New Michelin Tires Designed For EV's and Hybrids

By Henny Hemmes
Senior European Editor
Amsterdam Bureau
The Auto Channel

Rio de Janeiro Brazil; Recently, during the latest edition of the Challenge Bibendum, Michelin presented two new tire variants. During the event, which was organized for the tenth time, the automotive industry shows its latest technology and gives us a look in the future.

With respect to tires, the current trend is mainly about ‘good looks’: tires have to be wide and low. But because of the increasing demand for more fuel efficient cars, Michelin has been working on the evolution of its eco tires. In 1992, the tire manufacturer presented the first ‘Energy’ tire. The current fourth generation, the Energy Saver, proves to have considerably better performance compared to the original version.

In the mean time, it is well sought after by some twenty car manufacturers and a slew of private customers. From the introduction, at the beginning of 2008, up till the end of 2009, around 37 million units were sold, saving, according to Michelin, 48.6 million gallons of fuel. And consequently lowering CO2 emissions by 460,000 ton, corresponding to the emission of 177,000 cars in one year.

Now, Michelin is developing the next generation, which can, like the preceding versions, be recognized by the Green X marking on the side walls.

In the spot lights:

During the Challenge Bibendum, Michelin introduced two prototypes of new fuel efficient tires. The French manufacturer not only feels the need, but also the responsibility to reduce the use of fossil raw materials and thus also the costs. The 900 million vehicles that are in use worldwide, need 85 million barrels of oil and produce around 5 billion ton CO2 on a yearly basis. The impact of the tire on fuel efficiency is considerable. A loss of nearly 20 percent of energy used to propel a car, is on the account of tires when a combustion engine is used. With electric vehicles that might be as high as 30 per cent

Since car manufacturers are focusing on hybrids and EVv’s, Michelin says that such vehicles would need specific tires and therefore developed two prototypes. Both tires were presented in Rio, putting the company itself in the spotlights of the Bibendum event.

One prototype, a 21 inch tire is specifically developed for hybrids and EV’s with range extenders, vehicles that travel longer distances.

It has a large diameter and high walls (195/55 R21) in order to reduce roll resistance and positively influence longevity. The relatively small foot print has better aerodynamic qualities, alto beneficial for reducing fuel efficiency.

The other prototype Michelin presented, was a very small 10-inch tire (175/70 R10) that should have the same performance as a 14 inch one (175/65 R14) when it comes to grip and braking capacity.

Even tough the small tires look like belonging to a golf cart, the advantage is a weight saving of in total nearly 88 lbs.

The real innovation is that this tire is able to handle 5 per cent higher loads than a comparable tire with standard technology. Michelin says that no concessions were made with respect to safety and longevity. Another advantages is that this size fits into smaller wheel wells, generating extra space for the interior, engine and luggage compartments.

We tested the Citroën C2 that was equipped with the 10-inch tires, at the Autodromo Nelson Piquet in Brazil. Even on such small car, the optical effect was a bit silly, although that was compensated a bit by fender extenders in a different color.

Driving the C2 with the 10-inch rubber was not much worse from the model with 14-inch tires that we drove first. Of course this is not meant to be a sporty tire, but nevertheless on the track, it behaved well. To make up for the smaller size of the wheel, the test vehicle was equipped with heavy duty brakes. If those would be necessary for daily use, is not known. We may not expect the 10 inch tires any time soon, especially since cars are designed with large wheel wells and a large wheel/tire combination. But stylists will undoubtedly have more freedom, when designing new ‘clean’ city cars.