Background information
Come to think of it, why do US trucks have such long noses?
by Martin Jungfer
Why the world’s largest e-car never needs to charge
19.7.2025
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
They call it the E-Dumper, the largest (or at least heaviest) electric vehicle in the world. And it isn’t just a nifty Swiss invention – the colossus also generates electricity.
I’m probably not the only one who’s loved industrial vehicles since childhood. They’re big, powerful and just really impressive in every respect most of the time. Take those dump trucks used on large construction sites and in quarries. Several tonnes even unladen, wheels as big as two people – true giants.
No wonder that Lego Technik and other manufacturers also make these monstrous machines as toys from time to time.
As impressive as these huge vehicles may be, they’re anything but environmentally friendly – at least most of the time. For a few years now, a converted conventional Komatsu HD605-7, operating purely electrically, has been in operation in Switzerland. But this vehicle isn’t just CO₂-neutral, it even generates more electricity than it consumes. But how did it come about in the first place?
Terrain data was collected, potential consumption was simulated and plans were drawn up. The team had to overcome various unforeseen hurdles. Their chassis conversion, for example, had to accommodate four electric batteries with a total capacity of 710 kilowatt hours. This corresponds to a capacity of more than nine Volkswagen ID.7s, weighing eight tonnes.
The skip also had to be custom-made. They’re usually heated by the exhaust gases from the engine to prevent transported goods from sticking. With the Lynx – as the team calls their massive electric vehicle – this isn’t an option, of course.
It took roughly three years to develop and implement the project. The vehicle has been in use at the Vigier Ciment cement factory in the Bernese Jura for transporting rock since early 2018. The figures are nearly unbelievable: a synchronous electric motor with a continuous output of 634 kW or 862 hp, up to 12,000 Nm of torque, 58 tonnes unladen, an impressive 123 tonnes when fully loaded. And it gets even better.
A colossus makes history
The bottom line is, this gigantic e-car boasts several records. The E-Dumper is the largest and most powerful battery-powered electric wheeled vehicle in the world. It has the largest battery ever produced for an electric vehicle, and never before has a single EV been able to save so much CO₂.
All of this has contributed to this Swiss machine earning a place in the 2022 Guinness Book of Records (link in German).
But the only fully operational E-Dumper in the world – and therefore the largest electric vehicle ever – remains a Swiss pioneering achievement.
Header image: Kuhn Schweiz AG
Dayan Pfammatter
Freelance Editor
pf.dayan@gmail.comI've been fascinated by all things keys, displays and speakers for basically as long as I can remember. As a journalist specialising in technology and society, I strive to create order in the jungle of tech jargon and confusing spec sheets.
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