One hundred chassis were ordered in early 1917, ten to be finished as fighting vehicles with armoured bodies, and the remainder as Überlandwagen cargo carriers.

It was less capable across rough terrain, slower, required a far larger crew to operate and ultimately never had any success comparable to that of the British ‘Land Ships’.

It was to weigh around 30 tons, be capable of crossing ditches up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wide, have armament including a cannon at the front and rear as well as several machine-guns, and reach a top speed of at least 12 kilometres per hour (7.5 mph).

The running gear was based on the American Holt tractor, copied from examples loaned by the Austro-Hungarian Army.

After initial plans were shared with the army in December 1916, the design was extended to be a universal chassis that could be used as a base for both a tank and unarmoured Überlandwagen ("over-land vehicle") cargo carriers.

A wooden mockup of a final version was completed in May 1917 and demonstrated in Mainz with 10 tons of ballast to simulate the weight of the armor.

[5] The tank's name was derived from that of its parent organization, Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement, Abteilung 7 (Verkehrswesen) (General War Department, Section 7, Transport).

The large overhang at the front and the low ground clearance meant that trenches or very muddy areas were impassable.

The driver's view of the terrain directly in front of the tank was obscured by the vehicle's hull, which meant that there was a blind spot of about 10 metres (33 ft).

Five tanks of Abteilung I (Detachment I) under the command of Hauptmann Greiff were deployed north of the St. Quentin Canal.

Three detachments (Abteilungen) of tanks were assigned to an attack in April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux at the head of the four German divisions spread over a 6.4-kilometre (4 mi) front.

The first and second tank-against-tank combat in history took place on 24 April 1918 when three A7Vs (including chassis number 561, known as Nixe) taking part in an attack with infantry incidentally met three British Mark IVs (two female machine gun-armed tanks and one male with two 6-pounder guns) near Villers-Bretonneux.

According to the British lead tank commander, Second Lieutenant Frank Mitchell, the female Mk IVs fell back after being damaged by armour-piercing bullets.

[7] Mitchell's tank lost a track towards the end of the battle due to damage from an exploding mortar shell and was abandoned.

On 15 July, at Reims (during the Second Battle of the Marne), the Germans put eight A7Vs and 20 captured Mk IVs against the French lines.

However, the end of the war meant none of the other tanks in development or planned ones – such as the Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien and the 120-ton K-Wagen – would be finished.

Two vehicles closely resembling the A7V, one of which was named Hedi, were among several used by Kokampf, a Freikorps tank unit, to quell civil unrest in Berlin in 1919.