MICHELIN ENERGY Tyres & Fuel Saving

There are some 800 million vehicles on the road today, and within 25 years this figure will double to 1.6 billion worldwide. That’s why more than ever before we need to preserve our energy resources and protect the environment. Long concerned with enhancing mobility for people and goods, Michelin has made energy issues one of its prime concerns and a cornerstone of its research and development programs.

The reason for this commitment is simple – tyres play a vital role in a vehicle’s energy consumption. At normal driving speeds, a tyre accounts for 30% of a truck’s fuel consumption. In other words, in a truck, around one out of three tanks of fuel is used to overcome the tyres’ rolling resistance. In real-world terms, rolling resistance can be likened to driving constantly up a 1% incline.

Lowering this imaginary incline is what reducing rolling resistance is all about. It represents a major focus of our research because we want to demonstrate that improved rolling resistance technology delivers measurable benefits in terms of fuel savings and lower CO2 emissions.

If all the cars and trucks in Europe were equipped with MICHELIN Energy tyres:

- 4.5 billion litres of diesel and 1.5 billion litres of petrol would be saved each year

- There would also be a reduction in CO2 emissions of 15 million tonnes, which corresponds to the amount of CO2 absorbed by 600 million trees in one year

When it comes to energy efficiency, not all tyres are the same and rolling resistance can vary by up to 50% among tyres on the same vehicle. Three out of four Michelin tyres sold in Europe today are energy efficient tyres. With rolling resistance of around 6 kilograms per tonne, combined with the long wear life and outstanding grip for which Michelin tyres are renowned, the MICHELIN Energy tyre has established itself as an industry benchmark, reflecting our expertise in rolling resistance technology and our commitment to enhancing sustainable mobility.

In order to enhance the development of low rolling resistance tyres, it is necessary to introduce initiatives aimed to heighten awareness of a tyre’s impact both on the cost of running a vehicle and on the environment.

Michelin has successfully deployed low rolling resistance technology in truck tyres. In the latest fuel efficient truck tyre—the Michelin XZA2+/XDA2+ ENERGY, rolling resistance has been reduced by a factor of 3, therefore reducing fuel consumption by up to 6%, an important savings given that on average, long haul trucks consume around 45 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres.

Hence, after one and a half years of running, for a prime mover-trailer, the savings in fuel consumption can offset the cost of the vehicle’s tyres.

Thanks to environmentally-friendly Energy tyres (passenger cars and trucks), 12 billion litres of fuel have been saved since 1992, reducing CO2 emissions by 31 million tonnes. It would take 1.2 billion trees to absorb the same amount of CO2 over one year.