(Oh wait, the readers should probably be my first concern, huh?)
Anyway, I’m constantly trying to come up with various topics, preferably topics that somehow include big rigs somehow.
Today it was my curiosity that finally lead me on a Google-powered chase as I started looking up what the “World’s Largest Truck” is.
The world’s largest truck is a mining truck named “Liebherr T 282B”. This is a German truck that saw daylight in 2004. Although developed by Liebherr, the truck is built by hand in Newport News, Virginia, where they have a 10 acre factory that can accommodate 4 trucks at a time.
Accommodating 4 of these babies at once is no small feat, as you will understand once you read the stat of the Liebherr T282Bs :
Body Length: 50 ft 3 inches
Body Height: 25 ft 9 inches
Wheelbase: 21 ft 7 inches
Empty Weight: 224 ton (including a 11.5 ton engine!)
Max Capacity: 400 ton
Max operating capacity: 653 ton
Comparison: A regular sedan weighs about 3000 lbs - so 1 of these trucks equals the weight of about 150 Nissan Altimas...
Horse Power: 3,650
Max. Speed: 40mph
Fuel Capacity: 1,250 gallons
PRICE: $ 3.5 million …
(CD and air conditioner is optional…you would think for that price, it would be included? Then on the flipside, if you spend that much for a truck, paying for CD player and AC may not seem like a big deal….)
The truck is actually a hybrid. Its 11.5 ton, 90 liter diesel engine powers two electric engines that are located in the rear axle of the truck, and as stated above, it can get up to a 40mph speed.
Isn't this the coolest truck ever? :)
(See how teeny a person is next to this monster? Rumor has it adriver of one of these trucks once crushed a regular sized service
truck and didn't even notice it.....)
Note: The information for this blog was gathered from various trucking websites, but most of it is from wikipedia, along with the photos. The photos are from the Virginia plant where these trucks are being built.
