Bridgestone introduces Enliten, a new lightweight tyre technology that requires less materials and cuts CO2 emissions…
Bridgstone Enliten is said to reduce the rolling resistance of a tyre by up to 20% to reduce vehicle fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
The technology enables tyres to be reduced in weight by 10%, with no trade-off on wear life.
Enliten is also said to improve the vehicle’s handling and stability to increase driving pleasure.
Bridgestone has today announced the launch of Enliten, a new innovative lightweight tyre technology that (they tell us) represents an unmatchable reduction in material and rolling resistance performance to contribute to the reduction of a vehicle’s CO2 emissions, while providing the same wear life as a standard original equipment tyre. Benefitting car manufacturers, drivers and the environment, tyres with embedded Enliten technology also improve the vehicle’s handling and stability to increase driving pleasure.
More sustainable, more efficient
Today, dwindling resources and climate change are two global megatrends bearing huge pressure on the environment and automotive sector. European legislators have reacted by setting increasingly stricter targets on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to reduce the CO2 emitted by their vehicles.
Enliten is Bridgestone’s latest breakthrough solution to achieve those goals through original equipment tyres. The technology reduces the rolling resistance of a passenger tyre by, on average, 20 percent from a standard premium summer touring tyre. This enables tyres with embedded Enliten technology to help reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in combustion vehicles, while also extending battery life and vehicle range in electric vehicles.
Enliten enables passenger tyres to be reduced in weight by, on average, 10 percent from a standard premium summer touring tyre. This not only ensures that less raw materials are used to manufacture the tyres, but also contributes to the reduced rolling resistance. Enliten is said to be able to achieve all that without any trade-off on tyre wear or safety, also to improve the vehicle’s handling and stability to increase driving pleasure.
A new approach to tyre design and production
Enliten has achieved these capabilities through an innovative approach to tyre design and production. The technology combines a proprietary compound mix that enables improved wear performance and a decreased tread depth, a reduced and reinforced inner liner thickness, and a new dedicated mould design concept.
Paolo Ferrari, CEO and President Bridgestone EMEA, commented: “Becoming more sustainable is the responsibility of every person and business on this planet. For example, at Bridgestone, everything we do must contribute to our sustainability strategy, ‘Our Way to Serve’. Of course, our customers have their own initiatives, and as their partner, we are responsible for helping them achieve their goals as best we can. As we are working towards our long-term environmental vision to manufacture products from raw materials that are fully renewable and sustainable by 2050 and beyond, Enliten is a great step forward.”
In the face of current social, economic and technological trends, Bridgestone says that it is rapidly transforming from a premium tyre producer into a leader in mobility solutions. In recent years, Bridgestone Corporation has invested heavily in R&D, spending approximately €800 million per year (said to be the highest amount in the industry) to develop new technologies, products and solutions that can enable customers, fleets and end-users to become more sustainable and more efficient.
Bridgestone will soon be announcing partnerships that will see Enliten technology applied to vehicles in the European market.
