Chapter 368 Soviet-Finnish War (19)
In later times, electric cars are not a novelty.
However, what is less 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 without noise or smoke.
He used his design talent to create a "direct drive" structure, directly installing the electric motor on the wheel to replace the chain drive structure at the time and improve the transmission efficiency. In 1899, he built the first Porsche electric car, "Lohner-Porsche No. 1".
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 a power output of nearly 3 horsepower (about 2 kilowatts) and adopts the same shape as a carriage. However, due to the low energy density of the battery at the time, the 678-ton lead-acid battery limited its performance, so the maximum speed of the car was only 14 kilometers per hour, and it could only run about 50 kilometers when fully charged.
In 1900, Porsche sent this car to the Paris Exposition for exhibition, stole the show, and won a grand prize. Porsche himself was also honored as the "father of electric cars."
But in that era, the best way to test the performance of a car was to participate in a competition. The first pure electric car in human history did not receive much recognition. Therefore, Porsche quickly improved the design. He added a set of wheel hub motors on the rear wheels to propel the vehicle forward with four wheel hub motors. This was also the world's first car with a four-wheel drive system. Later, it set an Austrian car speed record at 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour.
Although four-wheel drive is faster, it also means that the weight of the battery pack has increased to 8 tons. The problem of short driving range has become its biggest weakness. For this reason, Porsche has come up with the idea of installing an internal combustion engine on the body to charge the battery (not directly providing power), and then using four wheel hub motors to propel the vehicle. This is also the prototype of a hybrid car, which is nearly a century ahead of the first generation of Toyota Prius (a hybrid model) in 1997.
Dr. Porsche's active performance in the automotive field continued until the late 1930s.
The world has entered an unprecedented dark period, and Dr. Porsche has not been idle. His imagination has become even more open, probably because there are more resources to mobilize (Porsche and the mustache have a good personal relationship). He made full use of his expertise and this time he started an electric tank. Yes, you heard it right, an electric tank.
As the inventor of the wheel hub motor and hybrid system, he moved this set of things directly to the VK4501P tank. This tank uses two Porsche Type 101/1 air-cooled engines to generate electricity. The electricity is first stored in the battery and then drives two 275kW electric motors. The engine and the electric motor are both rear-mounted, without a gearbox, and the electric motor is directly connected to the driving wheel, so the driving wheel is at the back (German tanks of the same period all have the engine at the back, the gearbox at the front, and the driving wheel at the front).
Because Porsche's power system is too "advanced", it has been constantly faulty. It is said that during the test in Rastenburg in 1942, after unloading from the train station, the VK4501P stumbled and almost missed the big event on the 11km journey to the test site (although Henschel's VK4501H was not much better).
The biggest problem of the "Porsche Tiger" is the electric system. The power system and control system frequently fail, and the fuel consumption is also frighteningly high, with a fuel consumption of up to 140 liters per 100 kilometers.
In the end, the "Porsche Tiger" lost to the "Henschel Tiger" in the bidding, and dozens of chassis that had been manufactured were converted into Ferdinand tank destroyers. The only complete "Porsche Tiger" prototype was assigned to the 653rd Tank Destroyer Battalion as a command vehicle, because the battalion was equipped with Ferdinand tank destroyers with the same chassis, and the maintenance personnel were familiar with the temper of these "electric tigers".
At the end of World War II, Porsche finally cooperated with the mustache to go crazy and built a real doomsday tank: the Maus.
Perhaps Dr. Porsche also knew that this was the last madness, so he let it go completely. The Maus is also electrically driven. The experimental vehicle uses gasoline and diesel engines to generate electricity. The experimental vehicle using the Mercedes gasoline engine can run at 25km/h, while the mass production version is planned to use a more powerful Mercedes 1800 horsepower engine, and the speed is said to reach 38km/h. Imagine a 200-ton iron block moving at the speed of a takeaway boy...
And Yannick was afraid that the Soviets would not be able to make it, so he not only gave Natasha the design drawings of the Maus tank, but also the complete set of gasoline and electric drive design drawings.
It seems that the Soviets did a good job of keeping secrets. Only now did he know that the Soviets really made that thing. He admired the Soviet engineers a little.
Rundstedt asked. "Will the Finnish defense line be breached?"
Yannick said disapprovingly. "I'm a little skeptical whether that tank can safely reach the defense line." You have to know that the 45-year-old Maus tank in the original time and space was not perfected, and was destroyed by its own people before it even went on the battlefield. He doesn't believe that the Soviets can build a perfect Maus tank with their industrial strength.
Rundstedt said with some worry. "Will the Soviets mass-produce this super tank?"
Yannick smiled. "Don't worry, Marshal. I hope they can mass-produce it, preferably hundreds or thousands of it."
The Maus tank looks very fierce, but there are many opponents in the original time and space who can penetrate the Maus tank.
There are several models in the United States alone.
For example, the famous Pershing, the 90mm M3 tank gun fired the 1945 T30E16 (ie M304) HVAP, with a penetration depth of 254mm at 1000 yards and 0 degrees; in addition to it, there are also the 90mm T15E2 tank guns used by the T26E4 Super Pershing and T32 heavy tanks, firing T44APCR. The penetration depth at 1000 meters and 30 degrees is about 221mm, and 0 degrees is about 302mm, which can completely penetrate the front of the Maus turret at 1000 meters.
There are also M6A2E1 heavy tanks, T29 heavy tanks, T28 super heavy tanks, T30 heavy tanks, T34 heavy tanks, etc., which can penetrate the Maus armor at long distances.
There is also the BL-10 anti-tank gun used by the Soviet ISU-152-2, firing APCBC, with a penetration depth of 240mm at 100 meters and 30 degrees (the Russians default to 30 degrees).
In addition, the 88mm Pak (or KwK) 43 used by Germany's Rhino, King Tiger, Cheetah, Ferdinand, etc., fired 40/43 APCR, with a penetration depth of 237mm at 100 meters. According to the quality of Soviet armor, it should also be able to penetrate.
Unfortunately, there was no support for the 88mm gun this time, otherwise it could be verified.
"But just in case, it's better to support them again." There is no need to send cannons or anything, just support Finland with a few napalm bombs.
Is it feasible to use napalm bombs to attack tanks? This is an interesting question.
The instantaneous high temperature of napalm bombs reaches 2500 degrees. Most tanks in World War II used steel plates as the main material. The melting point of ordinary steel is around 1500 degrees Celsius. At such a temperature, I am afraid that except for tungsten alloy and depleted uranium armor, most metal parts of tank equipment will be deformed or damaged to varying degrees in such high temperature and high pressure.
Moreover, according to the thermal conductivity of metal, when the high temperature of 2500 degrees is transmitted to the interior space, even if the conductivity rate is only one percent, it is enough to make the passengers bear it.