Is the tyre an ally of the green car?

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When we think about progress in the environmental field, we often tend to focus on manufacturers and motorists. Yet, when we know that under-inflating a tyre by 20% leads to excessive fuel consumption of 4%, our understanding of the role played by this essential car component becomes clearer. Tyre manufacturers have understood this and are working on ‘greener’ tyres. What’s the state of play?

The tyre is a product that must evolve

All the large tyre manufacturers have grasped this – consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental aspects of the products they buy. In fact, 72% of consumers would be prepared to pay a little more for ‘greener’ tyres. To meet this demand, manufacturers have all bowed to environmental pressure to integrate these requirements into their tyre design processes.

Practically, this means concentrating on two main areas: reducing tyres’ rolling resistance and working on materials to move away from oil dependency by using biomass-produced renewable raw materials. It does not seem like much but is proving to be a real headache for engineers …

Reducing rolling resistance

Reducing rolling resistance, which is the resistance that occurs when a car is moving, is a key factor in terms of lowering vehicle consumption and, therefore, the number of polluting emissions in the atmosphere.

It’s estimated that, with new-generation tyres, designed to save fuel, a maximum of 25% of tyre friction energy can be gained. However, this does not mean a 25% gain in fuel consumption – that saving would be more in the region of 5%. Incidentally, with some of their advertising, certain manufacturers play on this potential confusion with the general public…

Manufacturers today are fitting more and more of their models with this kind of energy-saving tyre. If we think about this on a large scale, the level of fuel that is saved, and therefore the pollutants emitted into the atmosphere, is significant. It would be even more so if all motorists drove with the correct tyre pressure!

Which materials for the future?

One of the major issues facing tyre manufacturers is moving away from oil dependency. So we are now starting to see the emergence of the first tyres made using biomass-produced renewable raw materials, such as BioIsoprene for example. Nevertheless, these new materials are just coming out of the laboratories and it is only really the beginning for them. Much work remains to be done before this kind of tyre is in general use on our vehicles.

However, specialists are all in agreement that, beyond the composition of tyres, it is above all their form that will evolve. Indeed, car tyres will certainly become larger and thinner in the years to come, which will once more lead to improved rolling resistance. It remains to be seen, however, if roadholding will go hand in hand with this kind of evolution …

And what about the consumer?

In any case, although improvements in tyres can, to an extent, contribute to limiting the environmental impact of the car, consumers will surely struggle to choose from the manufacturers’ various environmental promises. The new tyre classifications to be imposed by Europe from 2012, and which include energy efficiency criteria, will certainly be useful…

Yoann Nussbaumer founded the Automobile Propre blog and is fascinated by the car and, more recently, by related environmental issues. Progress only makes sense if it allows us all to live in harmony with our environment. In his opinion, it’s important to present and promote the solutions that could enable us to improve the environmental footprint of our car journeys.

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