What is the biggest truck in the world?

The world's biggest truck isn't a Ford F-450 Crew Cab pickup truck, or even a Mack truck with a double trailer. The biggest trucks in the world are used in mining, and perhaps calling them big is an understatement -- these trucks are truly enormous.

The giant dump trucks used to haul heavy metal ores out of mining pits weigh in the neighborhood of one million pounds (453,592 kilograms) and can carry and dump more than 300 tons (300,000 kilograms) of material in the back. Where a Honda Fit has 117 horsepower and a Jaguar XF has 300 horsepower, these mining trucks have about 3,000 horsepower available for moving all that mass.

Big Trucks by the Numbers

There are only a few companies that build the truly big trucks used in mining. Here are the contenders and the dimensions for each, including horsepower and payload, listed in alphabetical order by manufacturer:

Caterpillar 797B

• Height: 23' 6" (7.2 meters)
• Length: 47' 7" (14.5 meters)
• GVW: 688 tons (688,000 kilograms)
• Payload: 380 tons (380,000 kilograms)
• Engine: 3,370 horsepower

Hitachi EH5000

• Height: 23' 6" (7.2 meters)
• Length: 47' 4" (14.4 meters)
• GVW: 642 tons (642, 000 kilograms)
• Payload: 315 tons (315,000 kilograms)
• Engine: 2,700 horsepower and more, just read here

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