The invention relates to a locking mechanism for securing a battery pack (20) which is accommodated in an electrical vehicle (12), in particular in an electrical industrial truck, comprising a vehicle-side plug element (26) and a battery plug element (28), which can be plugged together with said plug element (26) and is connected to the battery pack (20). In this case, it is provided according to the invention that the mechanism comprises a locking element (32), which is arranged on the vehicle (12) and can be moved, in particular pivoted, between a battery release position and a battery locking position, the locking element (32) and the vehicle-side plug element (26) being arranged in relation to one another in such a way that the plug-type connection between the vehicle-side plug element (26) and the battery plug element (28) can be produced and released depending on the position of the locking element (32).