Electric van sets Guinness World Record by towing over 150 tonnes

The eDaily electric van made by Dutch automaker Iveco has set a new Guinness World Record for the heaviest weight towed by an electric van, smashing the target of 130 tonnes with a new record of 153.58 tonnes.

Iveco unveiled the eDaily electric van at the IAA Transportation 2022 Trade Fair in Hanover last September. Boasting a range of up to 400 kilometres thanks to up to three 37kWh batteries and a maximum capacity of 111kWh, the eDaily was conceived as the “electric twin” of the company’s best-selling Daily internal combustion engine (ICE) van.

The eDaily was also billed as the only electric light commercial van (LCV) to offer up to 20.3 m³ cargo volume, up to 4.6t payload, and up to 3.5t towing ability.

But to really the eDaily to the test, Iveco planned to set a Guinness World Record for heaviest weight towed by an electric vehicle.

With a target weight of 130 tonnes (it is unclear if this was a previous record, or whether Iveco has set the first record of its type), the Iveco eDaily well and truly obliterated its target.

Set on June 20, the record-breaking eDaily was hitched to a mammoth Iveco X-Way Strator – which itself is built to move up to 150-tonne loads – and which was itself hitched to a trailer strapped with a 50-tonne Collard Group earth mover and a further 7 tonnes of ballast.

The Strator’s trailer was then hitched to a fully loaded Iveco X-Way 8×4 tipper truck and an all-terrain airport fire truck – which really gives the impression that, at some point, those involved were just looking around for any available vehicle to hitch to their record-breaking road-train.

All in all, and as independently confirmed by the Guinness invigilators, the massive road train weighed in at 153.58 tonnes.

The van was driven by Britain’s current “Strongest Man”, Adam Bishop, who said: “The van was incredible. The scale of its challenge and what it towed was unbelievable”.

The record attempt was carried out in a supervised test environment and the eDaily was in ‘High Power’ mode, which is fitted as standard on all models, and which provides short bursts of additional power in demanding towing conditions.