After World War II, electric multiple units were produced exclusively by Pafawag in Wrocław until 1997.

[7] Pesa, after undergoing a significant restructuring in 1998, initially focused on producing railbuses from 2001 but began constructing its first electric multiple units in 2004 for the Warsaw Commuter Railway – the 13WE (EN95).

In 2005, Pesa developed a project to produce the first electric multiple units adapted for 3,000 V DC voltage in both 3 and 4-car versions.

Each car features two pairs of doors on each side, designed to accommodate platforms ranging from 300 to 1,000 mm in height.

[2] After its production, a decision was made to implement changes: the interior layout was altered, bicycle racks were removed, and only first-class seats were installed.

[14] In June 2019, further modernizations of the ED74 units began at ZNTK Mińsk Mazowiecki,[15] including the removal of half the entrance doors, reduction of window areas, interior reconfiguration, and replacement of inverters and converters.

[16] On 16 December 2005, a contract was signed with PKP Przewozy Regionalne for the delivery of 11 units to serve the Warsaw–Łódź route.

[2] The purchase was financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the EU Sectoral Operational Program for Transport [pl], along with government budget contributions.

[11] On 23 August 2007, an official presentation of the ED74 took place at Warszawa Centralna railway station, followed by a trip to Łódź.

[2] On October 10, ED74-005 was presented at the Trako Fair [pl] in Oliwa, and from 23 to 26 September 2008, ED74-014 was displayed at InnoTrans in Berlin.

In April 2016, after purchasing other electric multiple units, PKP Intercity announced plans to sell the ED74 sets due to their unsuitability for long-distance service.

[29] At that time, 5 units of this series were still in operation, servicing connections from Płaszów to Łódź Kaliska, Terespol, and Białystok.

[31] On 17 October 2016, PKP Intercity announced the intention to dispose of 14 ED74 series electric multiple units.

[36] Ultimately, at the end of April 2017, PKP Intercity canceled the sale proceedings and decided that the units would be returned to service.

[42] Even before the contract was signed, the transport of the units from Prokocim, where they had been stored, to the facilities in Mińsk Mazowiecki began.

[43] On 10 December 2017, with the introduction of the new timetable, the units were assigned exclusively to serve the Twoje Linie Kolejowe Kinga route between Kraków and Warsaw via Kielce and Radom.

[50] The ED74 units faced much criticism due to the insufficient number of toilets, lack of compartments, and uncomfortable, tightly arranged seats.