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The BelAZ-75710 is a Belarussian ultra-class truck that has held the
title of the world’s largest haul truck for the last 10 years.
Launched in 2013, the BelAZ-75710 managed to put the BelAZ brand back on
the map. Back in the Soviet era, the company based in the Belarusian
city of Zhodino made the largest and most powerful mining trucks in the
world, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, it was surpassed by
Western manufacturers like Caterpillar, Liebherr or Bucyrus, all of
which have held the title of ‘world’s largest truck’ with some of their
models at some point in time. But, a decade ago, BelAZ reclaimed its
throne with a behemoth that puts all other ultra-class trucks to shame
in terms of size and load capacity.
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The BelAZ 75710 truck itself weighs a whopping 360 tons, making it far
heavier than BelAZ’s previous largest model, the 7560, which weighed
‘only’ 240 tons when empty. The massive tires alone weigh 5.5 tons each.
The truck measures 20 meters in length, with a width of 9.7 meters and a
height of 8.2 meters. It is the only haul truck on the planet with a
maximum payload of 450 tons, but that is only the guaranteed capacity of
the manufacturer, as the truck managed to haul 503.5 tons in 2014, thus
setting a new Guinness Record.
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The world’s largest truck is powered by a hybrid system that consists of
two MTU DD16V4000 V16 diesel engines each capable of generating 2,300
horsepower (1,700 kW). They are coupled with two AC alternators and four
AC traction motors. Despite its size, the BelAZ-75710 can operate at a
top speed of 60 km/h (37 mph) when empty, which drops to 45 km/ (27 mph)
when the truck is loaded or driving uphill.
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Only three BelAZ-75710 ultra-class trucks are currently in operation,
all of them working at quarries in Russia. |
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