Chapter 368.1 The Winter War (19)

In the future, electric cars are not a novelty.

However, what is little known is that as early as 1897, Ferdinand Porsche thought that if cars were driven by electricity, it would be an ideal means of transportation with no noise, no smoke.

He used his design talent to create the "direct drive" structure, placing the electric motor directly on the wheels to replace the chain drive structure at the time, thus improving transmission efficiency. He even produced the first Porsche electric car, the "Lohner-Porsche No. 1," in 1899.

The biggest feature of this electric car is that each of the two front wheels is equipped with a hub motor, each of which can provide nearly 3 horsepower (about 2 kilowatts) of power output and adopts a design similar to a carriage. However, due to the low energy density of the batteries at the time, the performance was limited by the 1.678-ton lead-acid battery, so the car's top speed was only about 14 kilometers per hour, and it could only run about 50 kilometers on a full charge.

In 1900, Porsche exhibited this car at the Paris World Expo, attracting attention and winning awards. Porsche himself was also honored as the "father of the electric car."

However, in that era, the best way to test a car's performance was to participate in races, and the world's first pure electric car did not receive much recognition. Therefore, Porsche quickly improved the design by adding another set of hub motors on the rear wheels to propel the vehicle forward with four hub motors, making it the world's first car with a four-wheel drive system, and later setting an Austrian car speed record of 35 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour).

Although four-wheel drive was faster, it also meant that the weight of the battery pack increased to 1.8 tons. The problem of short driving range became its biggest weakness. To address this, Porsche conceived the idea of installing an internal combustion engine on the car body to charge the battery (not directly provide power), and then using the four hub motors to propel the vehicle. This was the prototype of a hybrid car, which was nearly a century ahead of the first-generation Toyota Prius (hybrid model) in 1997.

Dr. Porsche's active performance in the automotive field continued until the late 1930s.

As the world entered an unprecedented dark period, Dr. Porsche, instead of idling, expanded his imagination even further, probably because there were more resources to mobilize (Porsche had a good personal relationship with Little Mustache). He fully utilized his expertise and this time ventured into electric tanks, yes, you heard it right, electric tanks.

As the inventor of hub motors and hybrid systems, he directly applied this technology to the VK 45.01 (P) tank, which used two Porsche Type 101/1 air-cooled engines to generate electricity, which was then stored in batteries before driving two 275 kW electric motors. With the engines and electric motors both positioned at the rear, without a gearbox, the electric motors were directly connected to the drive wheels, so the drive wheels were at the rear (while contemporary German tanks had the engine at the rear, gearbox at the front, and drive wheels at the front).

Due to the Porsche's advanced power system, it suffered from constant malfunctions. It is said that during the testing process in Rastenburg in '42, after unloading from the train station, the VK 45.01 (P) stumbled and almost missed a big event on the 11 km journey to the test site (although Henschel's VK 45.01 (H) didn't fare much better).

The biggest problem with the "Porsche Tiger" lies in its electric system. The power system and control system frequently malfunctioned, and the fuel consumption was alarmingly high, reaching 140 liters per 100 kilometers.

Ultimately, the "Porsche Tiger" lost to the "Henschel Tiger" in the bidding process. The several dozen chassis that had already been manufactured were converted into Ferdinand Tank Destroyers. The only complete "Porsche Tiger" prototype was allocated to the 653rd Tank Destroyer Battalion as a command vehicle because the battalion was equipped with the same chassis of the Ferdinand Tank Destroyer, and the crew was familiar with the temperament of these "electric tigers."

By the end of World War II, Porsche, in collaboration with Little Mustache, went crazy and created a real doomsday vehicle: the Maus.

Dr. Porsche probably knew this was the final madness, so he let loose completely. The Maus also used electric drive. Experimental vehicles used gasoline and diesel engines to generate electricity. The vehicle equipped with a Mercedes gasoline engine could reach speeds of 25 km/h, while the planned production version was supposed to use a more powerful 1800 horsepower Mercedes engine, reportedly capable of reaching 38 km/h. Imagine a 200-ton lump of iron moving at the speed of a pizza delivery guy...

And Wilhelm, fearing that the Soviets might not be able to produce it, not only provided the design drawings for the Maus tank but also thoughtfully handed over the full set of gasoline-electric drive design drawings to Natasha.

It seems that the Soviets did a pretty good job of keeping things secret. Only now did he realize that the Soviets actually managed to produce that thing. He was starting to admire the Soviet engineers.

Rundstedt asked, "Will the Finnish defense line be breached?"

Wilhelm shrugged, "I even doubt if that tank can safely make it to the defense line." It should be noted that even in the original timeline, the Maus in '45 wasn't perfected. It was destroyed by its own people before even seeing the battlefield. He didn't believe that with the Soviet's industrial capabilities, they could produce a perfected Maus tank.

Rundstedt expressed some concern, "Will the Soviets mass-produce this kind of super tank?"

Wilhelm smiled and said, "Don't worry, Marshal. I actually hope they can mass-produce it, preferably a few hundred or even a few thousand."

The Maus looks quite formidable, but in the original timeline, there were quite a few opponents capable of penetrating its armor.

Just the United States had several.

Take the famous Pershing, for example. The 90mm M3 tank gun firing the 1945 T30E16 (or M304) HVAP round could penetrate 254mm at 1000 yards, 0 degrees. In addition to that, there were the T26E4 Super Pershing and the T32 Heavy Tank, both using the 90mm T15E2 tank gun firing the T44 APCR round. It could penetrate about 221mm at 1000 meters, 30 degrees, and around 302mm at 0 degrees, easily piercing the front armor of the Maus turret from 1000 meters away.

There were also the M6A2E1 Heavy Tank, T29 Heavy Tank, T28 Super Heavy Tank, T30 Heavy Tank, T34 Heavy Tank, and so on, all capable of penetrating the Maus armor at long range.

Then there's the Soviet ISU-152-2, which used the BL-10 anti-tank gun firing the APCBC round. It could penetrate 240mm at 100 meters, 30 degrees (the default angle for Soviet armor).

In addition to these, the German Nashorn, Tiger II, Panther, Ferdinand, and others used the 88mm Pak (or KwK) 43, firing the Pzgr.40/43 APCR round, which could penetrate 237mm at 100 meters. Given the quality of Soviet armor, it should also be able to penetrate.

Unfortunately, there's no support for the 88mm gun this time, otherwise we could test it.

"But just in case, it's better to support them a bit more," he added. There's no need to send big guns; a few incendiary bombs to support Finland would do.

The feasibility of using incendiary bombs against tanks is an interesting question.

The instantaneous temperature of an incendiary bomb reaches 2500 degrees. During World War II, most tanks primarily used steel plates. The melting point of ordinary steel is around 1500 degrees Celsius. At such temperatures, most metal components of tanks would likely undergo varying degrees of deformation or damage due to the high temperature and pressure.

Moreover, considering the thermal conductivity of metal, if the temperature of 2500 degrees is transmitted to the interior space, even with a one percent conductivity rate, it would be enough to harm the crew.