What payload can I achieve on my plant truck?

Published on: 19th January 2022

What is payload?

Payload is simply the amount of weight a vehicle can carry.  To calculate payload, we first need to understand Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW).

What is gross vehicle weight?

Gross Vehicle Weight is the maximum legal overall weight of a vehicle.  For the following example, we will use 4 axle rigid truck (8 wheeler) which has a GVW of 32,000kg (32 tonne).  This figure is dictated by legislation so if you see an 8 wheel truck in the UK, it’s a safe bet to say that it has a GVW of 32,000kg (a thirty-two tonner in truck speak).  Here goes:

Item                                              Weight

Chassis                                 9,500kg

Fuel                                      250kg

Ad-Blue                                110kg

Driver                                   75kg

Sterling body                        3,300kg

Total                                    13,235kg

What the above calculation is telling us is that without carrying any goods (unloaded), the truck will weigh 13,235kg.  We’ve already ascertained that the truck has a GVW of 32,000kg.  13,235kg is now ‘used up’ before the truck is even loaded so taking that away from the 32,000kg gives 18,765kg left over.  This means this truck can carry goods weighing up to 18,765kg or in other words, it has a payload of 18,765kg.

What payload can I expect to achieve on my beavertail plant truck?

As stated above, payload varies on each truck.  However, here are the typical payloads you can expect to achieve on different size beavertail plant trucks:

GVW                                                Payload

32,000kg (32 tonne)              18,500kg (18.5 tonne)

26,000kg (26 tonne)              14,000kg (14 tonne)

18,000kg (18 tonne)               9,500kg (9.5 tonne)

NOTE: The above figures are for trucks with plant bodies only.  Should a truck have a crane fitted, this will affect the achievable payload.