Record Breaker: Iveco electric van pulls over 153 tonnes

A standard all-electric Iveco eDaily 3.5-tonne van has claimed the official Guinness World Records title for the ‘Heaviest weight towed by an electric van’.

Iveco reckons its eDaily has a class-leading 3.5-tonne towing capacity and strong truck-based chassis.

Towing an incredible 153.58 tonnes, this standard production electric vehicle has now surpassed records set by all-wheel drive electric cars – an impressive feat achieved by the eDaily’s 140kW rear-wheel drive drivetrain with 400Nm of torque.

On June 20, 2023 the record-breaking eDaily was hitched to the enormous Iveco X-Way Strator truck, built for Iveco customer Essex haulage company G&B Finch. This truck was specially engineered to cope with moving large-scale loads of up to 150 tonnes.

The truck’s trailer was laden with a huge Collard Group earth-mover weighing in excess of 50 tonnes, with an additional seven tonnes of ballast being added for good measure.

A fully-loaded Iveco X-Way 8×4 tipper truck was then attached to the Strator’s trailer before an all-terrain airport fire truck completed the 153-tonne road train.

A specialised towbar designed by Mike Parker Design meeting record criteria insured this vast weight was secured to the eDaily.

Once it started moving, the eDaily made steady progress down the stipulated 100ft of runway and crossed the finish line in front of the Guinness World Records invigilators to claim its accolade.

The van’s ‘hi-power’ mode – fitted to every eDaily as standard – was utilised on the run, which provides bursts of additional power in demanding towing conditions for the all-electric van.

Blackbushe Airport in Surrey was selected as the record attempt location as its additional runways, surface and gradient met the strict Guinness World Records criteria.

All towed vehicles were weighed using precision weigh pads supplied by Micro Weighing Solutions as part of the official Guinness regulations.

Britain’s current Strongest Man, Adam Bishop, drove the eDaily to break the world record. He said: “The van was incredible. The scale of its challenge and what it towed was unbelievable, but it rolled up its sleeves and got on with the job. Amazing!”