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Watch a Tesla Model X set a new world record as it tows a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Updated May 15th, 2018 7:26PM EDT
Model X Pulls A Boeing
Image: Shutterstock

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The Model X has an advertised towing capacity of 5,000 pounds, but there’s no question that Tesla’s crossover SUV is much more powerful than that. Earlier this year, for example, we came across a video of a Model X pulling a semi-truck up a hill covered in snow. The footage was undeniably impressive, especially considering that a semi-truck can easily weigh-in at 35,000 pounds, if not much more.

While towing a semi-truck is certainly impressive, a new video making the rounds shows the Model X taking things even further. Originally posted by Qantas airlines, a new video shows a Model X ably pulling a passenger plane, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to be precise. And though we don’t know how much cargo, if any, was on the plane at the time, it’s fair to state that the Boeing likely weighed more than seven times as much as the aforementioned semi-truck, with some claiming the Boeing checked in at 287,000 pounds.

The video description reads:

Never has a passenger airliner been hitched to an electric passenger vehicle for towing. Well at least until today.

On a remote taxiway at Melbourne Airport, a Tesla Model X P100D with the greatest pulling power of any electric passenger vehicle came face to face against the newest star of the Qantas fleet, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

The video itself can be seen below. Incidentally, the Model X pulled the aircraft for a distance of nearly 1,000 feet.

Now was there a legitimate purpose behind all of this? Not really, aside from being a clever publicity stunt I suppose. At the very least, the Model X did set a new Guinness World Record for the “heaviest tow by a production electric passenger vehicle.”

Yoni Heisler Contributing Writer

Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the tech industry at large with over 15 years of experience. A life long expert Mac user and Apple expert, his writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK, and TUAW.

When not analyzing the latest happenings with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing soccer, and cultivating new TV show addictions.