Michelin Aims To Double Tire Life
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=123342
NEW YORK CITY — Michelin tire is working on several new tire-technology advances as part of an initiative to make tires part of an environmental solution. The world's second-largest tire producer, Michelin says 20 percent of the total energy consumed by passenger vehicles and as much as 30 percent for commercial trucks comes from tire rolling resistance. For that reason, new technical efforts to further reduce tire rolling resistance by 50 percent over today's levels are at the heart of the company's initiative. But the advances also are aimed at doubling the wear life of tires, as well as markedly reducing braking distances. Jim Micali, chairman and president of Michelin North America, tells Inside Line the targeted improvements in tire rolling and wear resistance cannot come by sacrificing other performance measures, such as wet traction and overall road-holding. He says advances in tire chemistry, construction and tread design — as well as sophisticated new computer modeling — will enable tire engineers to deliver the vastly improved performance. Michelin also is promoting an aggressive agenda for energy-efficiency labeling for tires much like the fuel-economy information currently provided for vehicles. Micali claims there can be as much as a 50 percent difference in rolling resistance from one tire to the next. In the U.S., Michelin is supporting rolling-resistance legislation pending in the U.S. Congress that would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the EPA to develop a program to make rolling-resistance comparisons available at the point of sale. Michelin now has an online meter tallying ongoing fuel and emissions savings. What this means to you: This looks like win-win, as future tires will not only save fuel, but go twice as long before wearing out. — Bill Visnic, Contributor