The VK 45.01 (P) was the official designation for an unsuccessful heavy tank prototype produced by Porsche in Germany in 1942. It was not selected for production and the Henschel design to the same specification was produced as the Tiger I. Most of the already produced chassis were instead rebuilt as Elefant tank destroyers.
The new Porsche tank designated the VK 45.01 (P) was to be powered by twin V-10 air-cooled gasoline Porsche Type 101 engines which were mounted to the rear of the tank. Each of the twin engines would then drive a separate generator, one for either side of the tank, which would then power each of two electric motors, one powering each track from the rear drive sprocket. But the engines and drive train were generally new and unorthodox designs for a tank, and due to being underdeveloped were prone to break down or require frequent maintenance. It was also difficult for the Third Reich to obtain additional amounts of quality copper to build whole new fleets of vehicles with electric drives in addition to the increasing demands of the U-boat fleet (which used very similar diesel-electric transmissions, which worked perfectly well); while it was easy enough to obtain quality copper to build a single prototype, once series production began, this became more difficult. These problems, and the fact that trials proved the tank to be less maneuverable than its competitor were the reason why Henschel's identically-armed and more conventional VK 45.01 (H) H1 prototype, which became the Tiger I, was adopted for production instead. Only one tank went into service as a command tank in the Ferdinand (Elefant) unit and served in Panzerjäger Abteilung 653. It was deployed in April 1944 and lost that subsequent July.
The new Porsche tank designated the VK 45.01 (P) was to be powered by twin V-10 air-cooled gasoline Porsche Type 101 engines which were mounted to the rear of the tank. Each of the twin engines would then drive a separate generator, one for either side of the tank, which would then power each of two electric motors, one powering each track from the rear drive sprocket. But the engines and drive train were generally new and unorthodox designs for a tank, and due to being underdeveloped were prone to break down or require frequent maintenance. It was also difficult for the Third Reich to obtain additional amounts of quality copper to build whole new fleets of vehicles with electric drives in addition to the increasing demands of the U-boat fleet (which used very similar diesel-electric transmissions, which worked perfectly well); while it was easy enough to obtain quality copper to build a single prototype, once series production began, this became more difficult. These problems, and the fact that trials proved the tank to be less maneuverable than its competitor were the reason why Henschel's identically-armed and more conventional VK 45.01 (H) H1 prototype, which became the Tiger I, was adopted for production instead. Only one tank went into service as a command tank in the Ferdinand (Elefant) unit and served in Panzerjäger Abteilung 653. It was deployed in April 1944 and lost that subsequent July.
