Yokohama begins ‘renewable’ Advan production

Tyres for electric vehicles made using renewable electricity. This is reality at Yokohama Rubber, whose Shinshiro-Minami plant in Japan has begun producing Yokohama Advan EV tyres with power from a new proprietary solar panel power generation system that officially entered operation in August 2023 and with renewable energy-generated electricity that the plant has been procuring since April.

The new solar panel power generation system has an output of about 1.1 MW and is projected to generate about 1,469 MWh per year while reducing CO2 emissions by about 599 tonnes per year. The new system is receiving subsidies under a Japanese government project to promote the use of renewable energy.

The renewable electricity that Yokohama Rubber is procuring comes from sources who utilise FIT non-fossil fuel certificates with tracking information and non-FIT non-fossil fuel certificates with renewable energy attributes. The Shinshiro-Minami plant’s shift to renewable-energy electricity is expected to reduce the facility’s annual CO2 emissions by about 570 tonnes.