Welcome to Russia where world’s largest dump truck is carrying out its duties at the mines located in the Kuzbaas region. Meet BelAZ 75710 that measures 20 meters in length and has a width of 10 meters. The empty truck weighs 360 tones, can reach a top speed of 64km/h and has a turning radius of 20 meters.
In order to give you a better idea, the truck has a total of 8 tyres and unless you have a height of 2 meters, you won’t even be half as tall as its tyre! The truck has a payload capacity of 450 metric tons which is the same as that of a fully loaded A380 Airbus. The drivetrain sports 2 16-cylinder diesel engines that are capable of cranking out 1700kW and each is responsible for providing electricity to the all-wheel drive system that utilizes 4 electric motors, each measuring 1200kW.
But when you’re talking about a vehicle this big and one that has to make a start-stop journey and carry around heavy loads then you need to know what is the torque being generated by the vehicle. The BelAZ 75710 can generate 18,626Nm worth torque. This is about 24 times the torque that a 2014 Formula 1 car’s engine can manage.
Andrej Vashkevich is a BelAZ test driver and one of the only 2 persons that have driven this mammoth truck in real-world mining conditions. He says, “I feel proud to be driving such a giant. It is easy to drive but you do need a little time to get used to its dimensions. The all-wheel drive makes it easier to drive in tough conditions such as on slippery roads and braking is more efficient.”
The truck can travel at 40 km/h when tackling a 10% gradient and can easily manage 18% gradient if it is a short stretch. Two more of these trucks are currently under construction with a price tag of over $6 million if anyone’s interested in buying!
