The first regular electric tram service using…

The first regular electric tram service using pantographs or trolley poles, the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, goes into service in Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin, Germany, by Siemens & Halske AG, in May 1881.

Earlier installations prove difficult or unreliable.

Siemens' line, for example, provides power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train, limiting the voltage that can be used, and providing electric shocks to people and animals crossing the tracks.

Siemens will later design his own method of current collection, from an overhead wire, called the bow collector.

The company Siemens still exists today.