Michelin: new eco-friendly tires

The French tire manufacturer has just unveiled two tires containing respectively 45% and 58% sustainable materials.

You have probably noticed that the SUV trend and the rise of electric cars (20% of an electric car’s energy consumption is related to its tires) have also changed tire sizes and therefore the raw material inputs. To limit its carbon footprint and better respect the environment, the French manufacturer has accelerated its “green” tire strategy initiated in 1992.

The goal of Michelin is to produce tires made from 100% bio-sourced, renewable, or recycled materials by 2050. To achieve this, the global tire leader based in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) is now presenting two new products developed from new components such as bio-based butadiene, recycled carbon black, and silica derived from rice husks… While current tires are composed of 28% sustainable elements and 72% fossil-based elements, Michelin aims to quickly reverse this trend, with an initial step towards 40% sustainable elements by 2030.

This ambitious project also requires additional investments in the manufacturer’s Research & Development branch, which currently employs 6,000 engineers, researchers, chemists… but also new partnerships with specialists in transformation and recycling such as ADEME (bio-butadiene), Carbios (r-PET), Enviro (rCB), Pyrowave (r-styrene)…

The two tires introduced this week are intended for series production cars and coaches. They also anticipate the manufacturer’s developments within two to three years, aiming to maintain the same grip and safety performance as the current range. The only thing left to find out is the pricing, which is expected to see some inflation!

Read also: Why Michelin and Goodyear have special tires for electric vehicles