Maxion launches ‘Europe’s lightest’ steel truck wheel
The first lightweight steel wheel arrives in size 22.5 x 11.75 (Image: Maxion Wheels)
Although Maxion Wheels is setting up a new facility for manufacturing forged aluminium commercial vehicle wheels, its traditional strength is steel wheels. Expansions in Turkey and Brazil have increased the company’s global capacity for these products to ten million pieces annually, and Maxion has now debuted what it claims is “Europe’s lightest mass-produced steel truck wheel.” The first of these lightweight wheels arrives in size 22.5 x 11.75.
With weight savings of 3 kg across the wheel line-up compared with current state-of-the-art steel truck wheels, Maxion says its lightweight wheels can add a payload increase of 40 kg or more.
Wheels are one of the heavier components on a truck, making weight savings a priority for fleets. Reducing wheel mass, while preserving safety, quality and performance, can benefit both fuel efficiency and payload. Maxion Wheels states that its expertise with lightweight, high-performance products has made it the “leader in the supply of steel truck wheels.”
Unlocking additional value
“Maxion Wheels is able to continue reducing weight, generation after generation, because we are passionate about engineering, avoiding unnecessary costs and supporting our customers with achieving their efficiency and sustainability targets,” says Pieter Klinkers, chief executive officer of Maxion Wheels. “Every kilogramme we remove means significant fuel savings and extra payload for customers. With the focus on fleet efficiency and vehicle productivity growing, selecting lighter, cost-effective wheels is a simple optimisation that unlocks a lot of additional value.”
The company utilises a unique Lightweighting process that integrates all performance and design parameters into advanced structural and simulation tools. Specialists at Maxion Wheels use this information, combined with their materials expertise and production know-how, to identify solutions that combine meaningful savings with the highest possible performance.
Lightweight design is also an important element in Maxion Wheels’ Roadmap Zero strategy to remove CO2 emissions from its products and operations. With comprehensive lifecycle data, the positive impact that reducing mass has on vehicle and production efficiency is clear. Maxion Wheels shares that Lightweight design advances will play a role in a production-ready low-CO2 steel truck wheel available in the near future.
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