That Amsterdam electric taxi again

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A year and a half ago, we mentioned the electric taxis used in Amsterdam around 1910 by a company named ATAX, which seemed to have quite a few of these cars in its fleet (click here to refresh your memory). 

The picture shown here is a new one to us, and since it gives much more detail we wanted to share it with you as well. Some sources mention that ATAX, by 1910, had nine electric Lloyd taxis. But this photograph was taken in 1910, so it may indicate there were more than that, with this taxi wearing number 54 on its dash and side lantern. Another source says there were 80 of them up until the Kaiser War, ‘dominating the streets of Amsterdam at the time’, which may be more appropriate. The same article writes that the sound of these vehicles was ‘similar to the ones of the electric trams in Amsterdam’, while ‘A ride set you back three guilders for call fee plus 10 cents per 300 metres driven’. That seems rather expensive.

The cars were Lloyds purchased directly from the manufacturer, the Norddeutsche Automobil und Motoren A.G., or NAMAG, of Bremen in Germany. Lloyd became Hansa-Lloyd and later Borgward, which some years ago was said to be returning as a maker of electric vehicles... NAMAG itself continued to exist, first under the wings of AEG, then of Daimler-Benz, making the circle of motor manufacture complete again. If, in Amsterdam alone, 80 of these cars were in operation, there has to be at least one survivor, surely? 

Oh, the ATAX driver was identified as Mr. H. J. Koek by his granddaughter many years ago, while the place is the Damstraat, on at the corner of Dam Square. Thanks to Google Maps the exact spot is still easy to identify.

Words Jeroen Booij, picture Stadsarchief Amsterdam

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