Tesla Model X Filmed While Towing a Boeing Into The Record Books

Time and time again, we’ve seen iPhones getting shot at, boiled, burned to a crisp, squashed and even exchanged for a Samsung. The same thing can be said for Tesla models. All sorts of people have done unspeakable things to Teslas, and even we got to see one sent into space.

Apart from this space-Tesla thing, most of the people doing weird stuff to their cars were individuals. Up until now, we have little knowledge of a company other than Tesla trying to pull a publicity stunt using the world’s most talked about electric car.

Enter Qantas, Australia’s airline behemoth and the world’s largest airline in several respects. Sometimes last week, the airline decided to put a Tesla Model X through its paces as pushback tractor.

The video showing the feat was posted on Qantas’ YouTube channel on Monday. It shows a Tesla Model X P100D having its way with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, one of the newest additions to the carrier’s fleet.

Just to put things into perspective, a pushback tractor, which moves airplanes around on an airport, weighs up to 54 tons (119,000 pounds) and has a drawbar pull of 334 kN (75,000 lbf).

The object being moved on the runway, the 787-9 Dreamliner, is a monster that has a maximum take-off weight of 24.7 tons (54,500 pounds).

By comparison, a Tesla Model X P100D has a curb weight of 2,509 kg (5,531 pounds). The 5,000-lb rated towing capacity already established the model as the electric car with the highest such capability, according to Electrek, but that’s still miles away from the capacity of a pushback.

The stunt seen here is not the first showing what a Tesla car can do if it puts its mind to it. It is not even the heaviest load being pulled by such a vehicle. Sometime in March, Elon Musk himself showed how a Model X could pull 250,000 lbs-worth of rail cars out of the Boring tunnel in Los Angeles.

This most recent stunt however still has the bigger wow factor.