6/23/2004: Biggest truck
 

http://cellar.org/2004/biggesttruck.jpg

Bring out your best Tim Allen imitation: more power, ar ar ar! It's the world biggest truck, the Liebherr T 282B. It hauls 400 tons at a time via a 3650-horsepower engine.

The engine doesn't turn the wheels, oh no, that would be too simple; no, instead it generates AC power, which turns an electric motor attached to the rear axles. Using this method it goes up to 40 miles an hour (60 kph). It's used in mining.

It costs $3M and they will sell fewer than 100 a year.

New Sci interview with one of the designers

I can't even see where the drivers sit. How much fuel does it waste?

I wonder what it's like to drive? You obviously have to adjust your thinking about where the vehicle begins and ends. It reminds me a little of a ship. I half expect to see a bridge/observation deck hanging out on either side so the driver can have better visibility and can walk back and forth to be able to see in various situations.

and why does it have to have three ladders? You would think one would be enough.

electric motors
 

New cruise ships also generate power which then drive motors attached to the propellers.

Is this method more efficient? Must be, if it works for hybrid electric cars, too.

There were three of them in the Starbuck's parking lot that I passed on the way to work this morning. Who needs an H2? :)

It's a matter of time before there are three Starbucks in each of those trucks.

Are those mirrors?!

If so, they look a bit far from the cab to be particularly useful.

Probably video cameras for cab-mounted monitors.

How does something like this get delivered to the customer? Do they do final assembly on site? It's not like you can drive/haul it on roads.

Maybe they use the world's biggest tow truck.

Strip Mine in Colorado
 

I worked at a strip mine in Colorado and they had trucks like these. The trucks they used didn't seem much smaller than these. You could park three pickups in the back (six if you could stack them) and they had the same ladders up the front and huge tires. Still, while the trucks are amazing, the dragline at the mine was even more impressive. It's bucket would drag across the ground and pick up the overburden (the dirt and rock above the coal) and dump it into these trucks, filling them up with one load.

The scale at a mine is just unbeleivable. When you look across the site, it looks like there are trucks and stuff and then a bunch of toy trucks and tiny people. It's hard to beleive the big trucks are as big as they are until you stand next to one.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Holy mackerel!!

"It hauls 400 tons at a time via a 3650-horsepower engine.

*faints* :p

Re: electric motors
 

they use the same method for the commuter train that i used to take. i think the idea is that electrical energy is easier to transport across a large vehicle than mechanical energy, possibly making the engine more efficient. either way a heavy duty electrical cable is probably easier to install/maintain in the vehicle and would last longer than a 20ft driveshaft that would no doubt take a beating from that much power. just an idea, someone set me straight if i'm off base here.

Re: electric motors
 

They probably don't want to make a transmission that size. An electric motor can be hooked directly to the axle.

A chat with the man that builds them.:)

I got the link from this Cellar members site.

I have installed and maintained scales for wieghing trucks slightly smaller ( 150-250 ton avarage load ) . I realy don't know if they are electric drive or hydrolic drive . I will ask tomorow .
I do know that most articulating trucks of this size ( yes there are some that will bend in the middle ) are hyrdolic drive .
All modern train locomotives use this same way to get about ( diesel engin drives a genarator that drives traction motors at the wheels ) . I can't even imagen the size of a drive shaft to pass that much power(3650-horsepower engine) , it would have to be HUGE !!!!!! I bet it has Allmost as much torque as Bruces 57 ;)

If you think about it the way this truck drives is VERRRY enviromently friendly , no messy trans fluid dripping every where . And BELEVE me these folks ARE worryed about the EPA messing with them !!!

Oh 2 more points , these trucks are assimbled on site , and the mirrors are sorta an after thought , useless , most have video cameras built in to a HARDENED housing in the back .