Hankook previews e-cube Max at IAA

A further development of Hankook’s e-cube range is currently on display at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Germany. The new tyres are promoted as e-cube Max products, and Hankook Tyre UK sales director Barrie Horrocks told Tyres & Accessories that the e-cube Max will eventually replace Hankook’s current e-cube line-up.

“E-cube stands for Energy, Efficiency and Environment,” Horrocks commented. “E-cube Max is basically the next stage forward. Its development is linked to the labelling legislation; the rolling resistance qualities of the e-cube Max are improved over the standard e-cube products.” He added that the Max tyres also have an increased load carrying capacity compared with the regular e-cube.

A number of key technologies are said to be responsible for the e-cube Max’s improvements over the standard e-cube range. These include spiral coil technology for the steering axle, three-dimensional kerfs for drive axle tyres, optimised rubber compounds and Hankook’s patented ‘Stiffness Control Contour Theory’ (SCCT). The spiral coil technology involves an endlessly would steel cord belt between the traditional high-tensile steel belts, and Hankook says this improves belt durability while giving a stabilised footprint shape and reduced rolling resistance plus improved steering and rolling properties. The kerfs are said to offer consistently high traction performance even in the later stages of wear and increased mileage through a particularly even wear pattern. The low hysteresis compounds used are said to reduce rolling resistance while the highly structured carbon black particles are intended to improve durability. As for the SCCT, Hankook says the technology provides more stability and less movement by ensuring balanced pressure distribution within the tyres; this results in considerably increased carcass durability and promises excellent retreading capability and cost efficiency.

The e-cube Max range covers three fitments, the AL10+ steer tyre, DL10+ drive tyre and TL10+ trailer tyre; these are available in three sizes for each of the tractor unit fitments and one trailer size. The range’s pan-European launch is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2013, and Hankook describes the e-cube Max’s label results as “excellent” – the AL10+ and TL10+ received a ‘BB’ rating across all sizes, while all DL10+ fitments are rated ‘CC’. As for the addition of an ‘AA’ rated tyre, Hankook Tire Europe’s public relations director Felix Kinzer confirms that Hankook has plans to introduce AA tyres, but cannot give a date for the launch of such products. “The technology involved in producing an AA truck tyre is very demanding; we will have something ready for the passenger car sector in 2013,” he commented.

“Our new e-cube Max line-up is a logical addition to our e-cube series that is already very successfully established in the market and even surpasses it in terms of environmental friendliness and economic efficiency,” stated Jin-Wook Choi, Hankook Tire president and CEO for Europe. “As ecology and economy become an ever more decisive factor for purchase decision-making in the truck sector, our new tyre series has been developed with a special focus on sustainability and efficiency. In the long term, only sustainable products that combine environmental friendliness with optimum efficiency will prevail in the market. This is one of the reasons why we continuously invest in research and development of our products to offer our customers modern tyre solutions at the highest technical level.”