Goodyear EV Tires and Retreads

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On this article, I cowl Goodyear’s bulletins from the CES 2024 present and get some solutions on why we will’t but purchase retreads for our vehicles.

ElectricDrive 2

Goodyear’s ElectricDrive 2 tire is an all-season tire particularly designed for electrical autos (EVs). It options an uneven tread sample for dependable dealing with in each moist and dry situations, in addition to SoundComfort Expertise to make sure a quieter journey. The tire is made with not less than 50% sustainable supplies, together with soybean oil and rice husk ash silica.

In comparison with the earlier ElectricDrive tire, the ElectricDrive 2 affords improved rolling resistance, which reinforces effectivity and vary. It’s also designed to supply a longer-lasting tread life to maximise drivers’ EV efficiency. The tire is on the market within the US beginning in Could and is available in 17 sizes to suit standard EV fashions such because the Tesla Mannequin 3, Tesla Mannequin Y, Tesla Mannequin S, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, and the Chevy Bolt.

Within the interview, I requested the pointed query of what do you surrender in going with this tire? Richard described that the tire trade lengthy considered a triangle of sturdiness, traction, and rolling resistance. It’s tough to enhance a type of with out impacting the opposite two attributes. For instance, in order for you most traction for a racing tire, you want to surrender some sturdiness and/or rolling resistance. In order for you excessive sturdiness, you want to have a tough tire and it must surrender some traction, particularly in winter situations. For the ElectricDrive 2, Goodyear balanced all 3 very well to present wonderful sturdiness and rolling resistance and all-season braking and dealing with. He did admit that this isn’t a high-performance tire, so in order for you the very best summer season traction, they produce other tires for that, and for the perfect winter traction, they’ve winter tires that stay mushy in chilly climate.

In abstract, the Goodyear ElectricDrive 2 tire is an eco-friendly, high-performance tire tailor-made for electrical autos, providing improved effectivity, vary, and sturdiness. For extra particulars, see the complete announcement right here.

Creating Superior Tire Intelligence Applied sciences With Goodyear Sightline

I used to be initially fairly skeptical about integrating ZF tire monitoring sensors with Goodyear Sightline and working with TNO to cut back hydroplaning on moist surfaces when driving on worn tires. First, I’ll summarize the bulletins. Then, I’ll describe the simulation that impressed me.

The important thing quote from the ZF announcement is beneath:

By means of analysis, digital simulation and real-world testing, Goodyear and ZF have recognized the potential of an built-in resolution in enhancing car efficiency and security. Decreasing the chance of hydroplaning, the Goodyear SightLine resolution is able to detecting partial hydroplaning early and affords suggestions for optimum pace to reinforce car management. Furthermore, when heightened hydroplaning severity is detected, outfitted with tire intelligence information, the cubiX software program is designed to instruct the chassis actuators to use corrective measures, stabilizing the car.

The important thing quote from the TNO announcement:

The ABS is a vital security element in fashionable autos designed to assist the driving force keep steering management whereas braking. By means of collaborative analysis and testing on a bodily take a look at car, Goodyear and TNO successfully showcased that an improved ABS, outfitted with details about the tire sort and traits akin to put on state, can doubtlessly improve total system effectivity and cut back braking distance by as a lot as 5.75 toes.

The Final In Reuse & Value Saving — Retread Tires

I’ve been listening to about retreaded tires since I used to be an toddler, since my father purchased me some Bandag inventory (I now not personal any). Three years in the past, I wrote about lowering tire prices, and once I obtained an e mail final week providing me the prospect to interview the CEO of Goodyear tire, I jumped on the probability. Though I feel that was the very last thing he anticipated to be speaking about that morning, he didn’t miss a beat and answered all my inquiries to my satisfaction. Earlier than I get my questions and his solutions, let me offer you a little bit of context.

After I requested Grok to present me a abstract of the market, it did an excellent job:

Retread tires, often known as remolded or recap tires, are an economical and environmentally pleasant different to buying new tires. The method includes taking a worn-out tire and changing the worn tread with new tread, permitting the tire for use once more.

Retread tires have a number of advantages, together with:

Value-effective: Retread tires can prevent as much as 50% of the price of a brand new tire, making them a extra economical alternative for a lot of drivers.
Environmentally pleasant: Retreading tires reduces the quantity of waste that goes into landfills, in addition to the quantity of power and assets wanted to supply new tires.
Excessive-quality: Fashionable retread tires are made utilizing superior manufacturing strategies and high-quality supplies, leading to a product that’s simply as secure and dependable as a brand new tire.

Regardless of these advantages, there are some myths and misconceptions about retread tires. Some individuals imagine that retread tires aren’t as secure or dependable as new tires, however that is merely not true. Retread tires are topic to the identical security and efficiency requirements as new tires and are simply as secure and dependable when correctly maintained.

In conclusion, retread tires are an economical and environmentally pleasant different to new tires. They provide the identical security and efficiency as new tires and are an important alternative for drivers trying to economize and cut back their environmental affect.

Subsequent, I requested Grok why they’re used on vans however not vehicles and I obtained some good causes:

Retreaded tires are generally used on vans and different industrial autos for a number of causes.

Value-effective: Retreading is an economical method to prolong the lifetime of a tire, which is particularly necessary for giant industrial fleets that use a excessive variety of tires.
Environmentally pleasant: Retreading reduces the variety of tires that find yourself in landfills, serving to to preserve assets and cut back waste.
Efficiency: Fashionable retread tires are made utilizing superior manufacturing strategies and high-quality supplies, leading to a product that’s simply as secure and dependable as a brand new tire.

Nonetheless, retreaded tires aren’t generally used on passenger autos for a number of causes.

Security issues: Some individuals imagine that retreaded tires aren’t as secure as new tires, though this isn’t supported by the proof.
Lack of information: Many individuals are merely not conscious of the advantages of retread tires and will not take into account them as an choice.
Availability: Retread tires aren’t as extensively accessible for passenger autos as they’re for industrial autos.

In conclusion, retreaded tires are generally used on vans and different industrial autos as a result of they’re cost-effective, environmentally pleasant, and carry out simply in addition to new tires. Nonetheless, they don’t seem to be as generally used on passenger autos because of security issues, lack of understanding, and availability.

With that as background, I requested him about retreads from a producer’s standpoint. I paraphrased his reply beneath:

• They’ve a really profitable retread program for semi vans and a considerably much less profitable one for vans.
• They’ve studied it in depth for the finances client market (assume 10-year-old Honda Civic) and the problems are:
  • Buyer notion of high quality. Despite the fact that high quality retreads are as secure as new tires and don’t fall off, individuals have seen poor high quality retreads up to now fall off a semi truck and lay on the facet of the street. Nonetheless, this could possibly be countered with guarantee, schooling, and promoting.
  • The semi vans all use the identical measurement tires, so it’s simple to make only a few sizes to cowl your entire market. Shopper vehicles and vans use tons of of tire sizes, so the amount of every of these sizes is simply too low to handle the method economically.
  • Sellers have discovered patrons for used and worn tires at the moment, so that they should compete for the outdated tires and never simply get them without cost.
  • Due to that, they might solely be a bit cheaper than new tires, and with the notion of poor high quality (not correct), they wouldn’t promote nicely at a small low cost to new.
  • That being mentioned, a big fleet that had an ordinary measurement (like Hertz or Uber that has many Teslas, even after the latest information they’re slicing again) may save some huge cash by placing retreads on their autos.
  • If Tesla (like with the Mannequin Y or Mannequin 2 or robotaxi) or others, like BYD, promote hundreds of thousands of autos with the identical tire measurement, which may enable them to supply retreads in sizes which have hundreds of thousands of gross sales.
  • If there have been much less proliferation of sizes and sorts of tires, the entire trade would develop a market for the worn tires to assist retreading and significantly enhance the sustainability and price of substitute tires.

Conclusion

It was nice to listen to concerning the new ElectricDrive 2 tire. I discussed that at the moment, it’s adequate to have a basic EV tire, however sooner or later, they may want an EV excessive efficiency, EV finances, EV lengthy life, and EV winter tire. He agreed. Because the market develops, they may proceed to launch merchandise to fulfill rising wants. The simulator actually confirmed me the worth of the sensors and software program that Goodyear introduced on the present. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see the place they’re adopted. I discovered lots about retreads and I shall be seeking to see if this develops first for the fleet market and later for the patron market if Tesla and others are profitable at promoting extra autos with the identical measurement and sort of tires than the market does at the moment.

Disclosure: I’m a shareholder in Tesla [TSLA], BYD [BYDDY], Nio [NIO], XPeng [XPEV], Hertz [HTZ], NextEra Vitality [NEP], and several other ARK ETFs. However I provide no funding recommendation of any kind right here. 

All pictures by Paul Fosse, besides as famous in any other case