As early as the 1950s, the Bundesbahn was considering operating express trains with speeds of more than 160 km/h. Initially, a derivative of the E 10 standard locomotive or the pre-war E 19 locomotive was under discussion as locomotives for such trains. Finally, there was an invitation to tender for a six-axle locomotive with an output of at least 5,000 kW, which should be able to pull express trains at up to 200 km/h and heavy express trains at 160 km/h.

Henschel was awarded the contract and in 1965 delivered four pre-series machines as the E 03, which had already demonstrated their performance during the International Transport Exhibition. Despite many defects due to immature technology, they showed for the first time that scheduled express trains are possible at 200 km/h. Before the transition to series production, the requirements were further increased, so that 480 tonnes had to be towed at 200 km/h and 800 tonnes at 160 km/h. In 1970, series production of a total of 145 examples of the DB flagship, now known as the class 103¹, began.

With a continuous output of 7,440 kW, they were the most powerful one-piece locomotives in the world and remain the most powerful locomotives built in Germany to this day. For a short time it was possible to call up an output of 10,400 kW or even 12,000 kW by switching the transformer, which is far above the output of today's three-phase locomotives. However, this was soon limited to 9,000 kW in favor of the service life of the components. At 9,800 kW, the short-term maximum output of the electric brakes on the 103 is also significantly higher than that of modern locomotives.

To facilitate maintenance, the locomotive body was divided into segments for the first time, which could be removed individually and thus allowed access to the interior of the engine room. Another innovation was the automatic driving and braking control, which is also used today for trips under LZB. The diamond-shaped pantographs that were initially installed were later replaced by a single-arm design, as they occasionally caused damage to the overhead lines.

For many years, the 103 remained the flagship of the Bundesbahn and served trains such as the Intercity or TEE. The class 120 three-phase locomotive, which was introduced in small numbers in the 1980s, could not compete with it because of its lower output. The first 103s only started to be phased out in 1997, since many locomotives were already very worn out from years of high-strain use. They were thus replaced by the new 101 and ended their regular service in 2003. Today, the last surviving locomotives are occasionally used as brake locomotives, as their high power makes them ideal for this.

When production of the E 10 or class 110 came to an end, there was a further need for similar locomotives. However, one did not want to ignore the technical advances since the 1950s and thus developed a new model using some of the parts of the E 10. The result was the class 111, of which a total of 227 were built between 1974 and 1984.

An important point in the development was smooth running at higher speeds, which is why the bogies were newly developed according to the latest findings. However, since the complicated power transmission via quill, as in the class 103, only paid off at higher speeds, the rubber ring spring drive was retained and the tried-and-tested traction motors of the class 110 were also retained. The 111 was the first locomotive to receive the new DB standard cab, which was developed from an ergonomic point of view and is still used today in a further developed form in new vehicles.

With a top speed of initially 150 and 160 km/h from 1980, they were used almost exclusively in front of passenger trains. The trains pulled ranged from Intercity trains (sometimes double-headed) to S-Bahn trains. For the latter, a larger number received a different color scheme ex works and push-pull train controls, which was later retrofitted to others.

At the time of the DB AG, the 111 was increasingly used for regional trains, where, however, it was still a frequently seen sight together with double-deck coaches well after the turn of the millennium. After the widespread introduction of locomotives such as the class 146, there were fewer and fewer possibilities for use, which is why decommissioning began in 2013.

The single-phase AC motors commonly used in German railway vehicles had reached the limits of their development in the 1970s, making it necessary to switch to three-phase AC motors. While the conventional motors had a torque curve that was extremely speed-dependent and therefore different locomotives had to be developed for different tractive forces and maximum speeds, the situation was completely different when using three-phase AC technology. This made it possible to develop high-speed universal locomotives that could also handle heavy freight trains.

The biggest problem with three-phase technology is controlling the motors with the right frequency for each speed, which ultimately led to the discontinuation of the earlier trials with three-phase locomotives at the beginning of the 20th century. With the help of modern semiconductor technology, it was now possible to convert the AC voltage from the overhead line into three-phase current of any frequency and voltage in converters. In addition, the energy from the dynamic brakes could now be fed back directly into the overhead line instead of being converted into useless heat in braking resistors. In the class 120, the main transformer was installed under the vehicle floor for the first time, which made it possible to create more space in the machine room.

In the 1970s, Henschel had already tested the diesel-electric DE 2500 and the electric E 1200 with three-phase traction motors. The aim was now to develop a significantly more powerful mixed-traffic locomotive with a top speed of 200 km/h with the class 120⁰. In the years 1979 and 1980, a total of five pre-production locomotives were built, which were initially tested at a top speed of 160 km/h. One example set a record of 231 km/h in August 1980 and the fifth example was factory-approved for 200 km/h. In 1984, one of the pre-production locomotives with a modified geara ratio set a new record of 265 km/h.

In the same year, these five units were officially put into service and 60 more production locomotives were ordered. The pre-production locomotives were mainly used under the designation class 752 as railway service vehicles. They were partly used as test vehicles and rebuilt several times. They also played an important part in the development of the ICE 1, whose power cars were derived directly from the class 120.

From 1987, the production locomotives were delivered as class 120¹. They were put under a lot of strain right from the start, as they were mainly used in front of intercity trains during the day and had to pull heavy freight trains at night. Only with the second stage of the railway reform in 1999 did the locomotives of the class 120 come to DB Fernverkehr and were therefore no longer available for use in front of freight trains. From 2007, a total of eight units were converted for use with 160 km/h push-pull trains and designated as class 120². Despite the availability of more modern locomotives such as the class 101, the class 120 remained an important part of IC traffic even after 2010. In some cases, engines that had already been retired were reactivated when demand increased. The last long-distance journey then took place in July 2020.

When the demand for high-speed freight locomotives increased in the 1960s, a further development of the E 50 was examined. The requirements stipulated on gradients of 0.5 percent to run express freight trains with 120 km/h and 1.000 tonnes or regular freight trains with 80 km/h and 2.000 tonnes. A change in the gear ratio of the E 50 failed because its traction motors, which were weaker than those of other standard electric locomotives, would not have been sufficient at higher speeds. However, a completely new development was ruled out due to time constraints. The solution now consisted of finding a compromise between the proven technology of standard locomotives and more modern assemblies.

Since the traction motors of the E 50 were not suitable for a larger increase in output, the traction motors from the E 10 and E 40 were further developed. With a total of six of these traction motors, an hourly output of 6,288 kW and a braking power of 6,600 kW over a short period could be achieved. Since the bogies and the electrical equipment of the E 50 were not suitable for this power, the technology of the class 103 was used. To facilitate maintenance, new design principles were used, which had also been used with the 103. The entire paneling of the engine room consisted of three large hoods, which, like the driver's cabs, could be removed as a whole. Compared to the previous class, the interior of the driver's cabs has been modernized in terms of comfort and ergonomics.

According to their design, the locomotives were used almost exclusively in front of fast or heavy freight trains. Nevertheless, they had the necessary equipment to be able to pull passenger trains when there was a shortage of locomotives. Only on the Franconian Forest ramp they were used in front of scheduled passenger trains, which has not been permitted since 2003 due to the lack of door blocking.

The heaviest freight trains used in Germany were ore trains, initially weighing 4,000 and later 6,000 tonnes, which ran from the North Sea ports to the steelworks inland and were each pulled by two class 151 locomotives. Since these loads were too great for the screw couplings common in Central Europe, 20 locomotives and a sufficient number of freight cars were equipped with central buffer couplings. When these services were discontinued in the 1990s, the locomotives were fitted with screw couplings again and assigned to other areas of application.

In contrast to the other standard locomotives, most of the locomotives remained painted in their original chrome oxide green color scheme into the 1990s. Their importance decreased with the increasing number of four-axle three-phase current locomotives for freight train use, since the DB wanted to quickly part with locomotives with three-axle bogies due to the increased wear on wheels and rails.

Since 2003, they have mostly only been used to push vehicles up ramps. At the same time, sales began to private companies, who will continue to use the locomotives for longer due to their performance and reliability. The largest customer was a consortium of Railpool and Toshiba, which signed the contract for the purchase of 100 of the 170 machines manufactured in 2017. At Deutsche Bahn, the locomotives are now being phased out when the maintenance deadlines expire.

For cross-border traffic to France and Luxembourg, the Bundesbahn required electric locomotives that, in addition to the German power system with 15 kV and 16 2/3 Hz, are also suitable for the northern French system with 25 kV and 50 Hz. As early as 1960, three examples of the E 320 were built, which only reached 120 km/h with nose-suspended motors and were in use as the class 182 until the early 1980s. This was followed in 1965 by five E 410s with a rubber ring spring cardan drive, which reached a top speed of 150 km/h. These were additionally designed to operate under 1.5 or 3 kV DC, as used in Belgium, the Netherlands and parts of France. Load control using thyristors and mixed current motors were required for use with direct and alternating current. These locomotives were also used as class 184 until after the turn of the millennium.

Four prototypes of the E 310 finally followed in 1966, which were only suitable for the two AC systems and were therefore technically less complex. Nevertheless, the thyristor control, mixed current motors and the same drive were still used. Two locomotives had an electric resistance brake and were later classified as class 181⁰, while the other two had regenerative braking and were classed as class 181¹.

From 1975, the increased demand for multi-system locomotives led to the procurement of 25 improved production locomtotives as the class 181². These were now 160 km/h fast and did not differ in the drive technology from the prototypes, but there were improvements in the control technology. As with all previous locomotives, the locomotive body was designed relatively flat, since the overhead line in France is lower than in Germany.

Together with the prototypes and predecessors, the production locomotives were mainly used in front of passenger trains, but often also in front of freight trains. On the French side, they usually ran to Metz or Strasbourg, and they were also used in front of trains to Luxembourg. Depending on demand and capacity, they also ran on domestic German routes. With the introduction of high-speed trains between Germany and France, the locomotives gradually lost their area of responsibility for high-value passenger trains. After the four prototypes had been retired by 2003, the number of 181² in use dropped significantly from around 2010 until the last example was retired in 2018.

In the beginning, the program of the standard electric locomotives only provided for a four-axle universal locomotive with a top speed of 125 km/h in addition to the six-axle freight locomotive. However, since it soon became apparent that this could not meet all the requirements, the development was divided into the E 10 express locomotive and the E 40 freight locomotive. The industry was given a free hand during development and only the performances to be achieved were specified. The result was four pre-production machines from different manufacturers. After the subsequent delivery of a fifth engine, testing of the locomotives designated E 10⁰ under everyday conditions began in 1952.

Technically and externally, the E 10 was almost identical to the E 40, however, due to the speed of 150 km/h, it was fitted with a dynamic brake and motors that were temporarily able to withstand higher loads. This made it possible to call up up to 6,000 kW for a short time if required. The Gummiringfederantrieb (“rubber ring spring drive”) by SSW proved to be the best form of power transmission in the test locomotives, and so it was installed in the production machines and later also in almost all other standard electric locomotives. A follow-up control was used to switch the 28 notches, in the last series a load switch with thyristor. Series production started in 1956 and comprised 379 examples of the 150 km/h version, also known as the E 10^1-3. For a long time they were the flagship for express trains on the DB, even after the introduction of the 103.

In 1962, six locomotives of the current production were equipped with new bogies for 160 km/h, which were to be used in front of the Rheingold. Because they got a 1 in front of the serial number, they became known as E 10¹². A further six engines were given a more streamlined body, which led to the nickname “crease” due to the distinctive crease in the front sides. The first six examples were later put back on the original bogies, as they still had the old car body. The normal version also received the crease from the E 10 288. Another 20 examples of the E 10¹² were given a modified variant of the original bogies, which could also be approved for 160 km/h.

From 1968 the conventional E 10 were listed as class 110 and the E 10¹² as class 112. The last 20 E 10¹² were reclassified as class 113 in 1988 because they had different bogies. In 1991, the remaining 112 became the 113 in order to be able to classify the class 212 locomotives that had been added by the GDR Reichsbahn as 112 according to the all-German class scheme. After 2005, some 110 and 113 were handed over to DB AutoZug, forming the class 115 for better differentiation.

After many years under heavy loads, it was eventually necessary to reduce the speed to 140 and sometimes even 120 km/h. At DB AG, the locomotives increasingly came to DB Regio and faced competition from the class 143, which was more modern and all engines had the capability for push-pull-trains. From 2001 the gradual decommissioning of the first series began, but the newer ones were still not dispensable despite their increasing age. In 2014, a locomotive built in 1957 was the oldest one on the railway. They almost completely disappeared from active line service that year. In 2020, the last two locomotives of the class 115 were decommissioned after they had previously only been used for special operations. A total of 20 examples were received, some of which remain operational.

During the development of the standard electric locomotives, it quickly became clear that in the future the fast four-axle E 10 and the heavy six-axle E 50 would not be sufficient to serve all train types adequately. The E 40, which was primarily intended for freight trains, thus was developed from the E 10 by reducing the gear ratio and eliminating the dynamic brake. With a maximum speed of 100 and later 110 km/h, it could haul trains of 2,100 tonnes at 90 km/h on the flat and was still fast enough to be able to haul passenger trains if necessary.

The last series, also known as class 140⁸, was equipped for push-pull operation and multiple working. This meant that push-pull trains could be run in S-Bahn-like operations on the one hand and heavy freight trains on the other. Some locomotives even had knuckle couplings for hauling heavy ore trains. Another modification was the E 40¹¹, better known under its later class designation 139. The 31 examples were intended for use on steep stretches and were again fitted with an dynamic brake. 

Including the class 139 879 examples were built, making them the most numerous standard electric locomotive. Over time, their use in front of passenger trains disappeared from their everyday field of activity, but they remained indispensable in use in front of freight trains for a long time. Only after the turn of the millennium did the stock at DB AG fall to around 300 units due to the introduction of new three-phase locomotives. Later, depending on the development of the economy, the remaining ones were stored and reactivated several times as required, e.g. to compensate for missing capacities or to replace failed locomotives. The last of these were retired in 2014, but there are still many examples with private railways.

The E 41 was developed as a standard locomotive for commuter traffic and for passenger traffic on branch lines. The aim of the development was to achieve an axle load of 15 tonnes despite a maximum speed of 120 km/h. For this purpose, a significantly simplified electrical system was installed, which significantly reduced the power compared to the sister locomotives. However, multiple controls were installed throughout in order to be able to implement push-pull train operation on a large scale.

The traction motors were derived from those of the ET 30 EMUs. In contrast to the high-voltage tap changer of the other standard electric locomotives, the E 41 was given a low-voltage tap changer that was cheaper to implement. While with the other locomotives a notch could be preselected and was engaged automatically by the tap changer, the 28 notches on the E 41 could only be addressed by up and down control. During development, no attention was paid to the fact that this type of tab changer produces arcs with high amperage. The resulting noise earned the locomotives the nickname “firecracker”. With this equipment, the E 41 only briefly produced 3,700 kW, which was the hourly output of the E 10 and E 40. The hourly output of the E 41 was significantly lower at 2,400 kW. Although the achieved axle load of 16.6 tonnes was higher than originally planned, it did not significantly limit the area of application.

A total of 451 locomotives were manufactured up to 1971, which have been known as class 141 since 1968. They wore a variety of different liveries, some of which indicated their use as an S-Bahn. As early as the late 1980s, there were plans to reduce the stock, since more and more powerful electric locomotives were either retrofitted for use in push-pull trains or were delivered directly. Thanks to the introduction of clock-face schedule, however, there was an increased demand for push-pull locomotives, so that most of the units stayed in service longer. In the 1990s they faced competition from the large number of class 143 locomotives that came to West Germany from the former GDR Reichsbahn. Around the turn of the millennium, the stock of the series fell sharply, so that by 2005 it had almost disappeared.

The E 50 was developed from 1950 as a heavy freight locomotive to have a modern successor to the E 94. A lot of experience from the development and operation of the E 94 was brought in, but it was created as a standard electric locomotive together with the E 10 and used the same modern components and production methods.

To ensure sufficient traction and tractive power, the locomotive was designed with six axles. This means that the power per traction motor could also be slightly lower compared to the E 10 in order to achieve cheaper production and a longer service life. Since there was not much confidence in the new power transmission via rubber ring springs for heavy freight train use at the beginning of production, the motors in the first 25 engines built were designed with nose-suspended motors and only then was the new technology used. It's not surprising that the early examples didn't fare any worse when you consider that most locomotives up to 160 km/h are now being built with nose-suspended motors. In order to prevent the front bogie from lifting when starting off with a heavy train, the bogies were connected with a cross coupler. In order to reduce wear on the rails, however, this coupling was no longer used in the last series and instead replaced by adjustments to the bogies themselves.

Production ended in 1973 after 194 units, after the locomotive now known as class 150 had a successor in the form of the 151. It proved to be a reliable workhorse, even if reduced performance in the upper speed range became apparent over time due to the simplified traction motors compared to the E 10. The more powerful and faster 151 was initially only able to compete for part of its missions, until it was increasingly pushed out of route service by the modern 152. In the end it was only used for pushing on ramps and for maneuvering and was retired in 2003. Lacking the prestige of an express train loco, all but two were scrapped within a short period of time.

The AG used the EA 1000, which Henschel had built in 1966, for use on electrified lines and with a battery. They were similar to a conventional diesel shunter, but had a pantograph on the cab roof. When the demand came for a significantly more powerful locomotive that only had to work under the catenary, Henschel developed the E 1200. Since the three-phase current technology had already been tested on a diesel-electric DE 2500, it was also used here to achieve the required performance.

The first six locomotives were delivered in 1976 and boasted a very good starting tractive effort of 330 kN for a four-axle locomotive. To gain knowledge for the new high-power locomotive of the class 120, a vehicle was brought to Austria in 1979, where test runs were undertaken on the Semmeringbahn, among other places. A further seven machines were delivered to Ruhrkohle AG in 1984. The decommissioning took place between 2007 and 2017. Except for two pieces, which were given to museums in Koblenz-Lützel and Bochum, all were scrapped.