Toyo Tires is bringing its sustainable content off-road tyres to January’s Dakar Rally, supplying two versions of its Toyo Open Country M/T-R to selected competing vehicles. This means that Toyo tyres containing up to 60 per cent non-fossil materials by weight will negotiate the approximately 5,000-mile route around one of the world’s largest oil producing countries.
On the evening of 4 December, CLEPA – the European Association of Automotive Suppliers – held its ninth CLEPA Innovation Awards in Brussels. In addition to featuring talks with high-level EU policy makers on the future of transport, the event awarded 12 Top Innovators, six each in the categories ‘Digital’ and ‘Green’. The latter category included kudos for a tyre, the Continental UltraContact NXT.
Bridgestone Americas is showcasing its commitment to sustainability at the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 by using more sustainable materials and technologies in motorsports. The Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 race tyres for the 2024 event feature two ISCC Plus-certified monomers derived from the waste residue of palm oil processing. This innovation comes as the Firestone brand marks 25 consecutive years as the exclusive tyre supplier for the NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500.
The first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Qatar marked LMGT3’s arrival to the championship, with Goodyear as the exclusive tyre supplier. Through the introduction of its new LMGT3 tyre specification and enhancements to logistical support, Goodyear claims to have aligned with WEC and FIA’s sustainability goals, driving efforts towards a cleaner and more environmentally responsible sport.
Yuan Zhongxue, director of the National Engineering Research Center for Rubber and Tire and honorary chairman of the Sailun Group, announced sustainable development goals (SDGs) for the tyre maker during the recent 2024 China Rubber Conference. The SDGs aim to progressively increase the utilisation of sustainable materials in tyre production, targeting 40 per cent by 2030 and striving for 100 per cent by 2050. Additionally, Sailun aims to reduce per tyre energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 per cent, compared to 2022 levels, by 2030.
Cars equipped with Toyo Proxes slick race tyres containing sustainable materials have own two of first four Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie races. The Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVOs of team Toyo Tires with Ring Racing were victorious in the first rounds of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie in the SP10 class as well as in 24H Nürburgring Qualifier races.
Since establishing its new long-term sustainability policy in 2021, Sumitomo Rubber Group has piloted and demonstrated proof of concept for the use of hydrogen as a source of energy at its tyre factory in Shirakawa, Japan. Combined with power generated from solar photovoltaic panels installed in the plant’s carpark, Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) claims that the use of hydrogen has led to carbon neutrality (Scopes 1 and 2) for its production at Shirakawa, beginning in January 2023.
The Polestar 0 project aims to create a climate-neutral car by 2030, eliminating all sources of CO2 emissions throughout the vehicle’s supply chain, manufacturing processes and end of life without offsetting them. Nokian Tyres has joined the project and is developing climate-neutral tyres for the car.
Plant engineer and equipment manufacturer Zeppelin Systems launched the Zeppelin Sustainable Tire Alliance in March 2023 to pursue a goal of increasing sustainability within the tyre industry by rethinking production and recycling within the context of a circular economy. The Alliance brings together firms from around the world in order to put this vision into practice at various points in the tyre value chain. The latest to join is Siemens AG.
A couple of weeks after Apollo Tyres unveiled car tyres containing 75% sustainable materials, JK Tyre & Industries has seen Apollo’s 75 and raised it 5. The company has produced a passenger car radial with 80% recycled and renewable materials – and says it will offer such a range “in due course.”
Nexen Tire has unveiled a sustainable concept tyre containing 52% renewable & recycled raw materials. This Nexen EcoTech tyre, which according to its sidewall is “for the greenish future,” consists of 44% renewable materials, including natural rubber, bio-based synthetic rubber, rice husk silica and bio-based rubber chemicals. A further 8% is recycled content, including cord made from recycled PET bottles and bead wire sourced from scrap metal.
Bridgestone has produced a run of demonstration tyres with 75% recycled and renewable materials, including synthetic rubber made with recycled plastics and natural rubber containing hevea and guayule. The company is now jointly evaluating the tyres with vehicle manufacturers with a view to their use on the next generation of electrified SUVs and crossovers.
As a contribution to carbon neutrality in motorsport, Yokohama Rubber is now powering its motorsport tyre production line in Mishima, Japan with electricity from renewable sources. Furthermore, certain tyres produced on this line contain 33% sustainable materials.
Following on from its development of agricultural tyres with 75% sustainable materials, Apollo Tyres has now achieved the same goal with passenger vehicle tyres. These tyres – an Apollo Amperion high-performance tyre for electric vehicles and an Apollo Aspire 4G+ ultra-high performance car tyre – are not commercially available at present.
Apollo Tyres aims for at least 40 per cent of the raw materials it uses by 2030 to be sustainable, and to show what it can already achieve the tyre maker has produced an agricultural tyre containing 75 per cent sustainable materials. Although just a concept, Apollo is evaluating the product’s potential commercialisation.
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