The sustainable car tires and bus tires that have now been unveiled by Michelin contain 45 percent and 58 percent environmentally sustainable materials, respectively. The car tire consists of materials such as recovered carbon black that is delivered by Enviro. Both tires unveiled have been approved for use on ordinary road vehicles and have performance levels strictly identical to current tires.
The production of new tires using carbon black recovered with Enviro’s technology reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 93 percent compared with the use of virgin carbon black.
Michelin has previously developed a racing tire for electric motorcycles, and one for cars that consist of a high proportion of recovered and sustainable materials, including Enviro’s recovered and ISCC-certified carbon black.
Racing with sustainable car tires
Earlier, the Michelin tire containing 53% sustainable materials, fitted to the H24 GreenGT hydrogen racing car took to the track outside the twenty-four race in La Sarthe, within the framework of a Road To Le Mans (Michelin Le Mans Cup) trial session. “Driving on a tire comprising over 50% bio-sourced and recycled materials within the framework of an official competition is a world first. The hydrogen prototype covered several laps on these tires under racing conditions, on the very demanding Le Mans large circuit. Like Team H24 Racing and its driver, Stéphane Richelmi, we are happy with their performance at the expected level.” Matthieu Bonardel, Director of Michelin Motorsport.
A result that demonstrates the Group’s ability to keep to the road map it has laid out for itself in order to achieve 100% sustainable materials on all its tires by 2050, with an aim of 40% sustainable materials at Group level by 2030; and all this while maintaining a very high-performance level, without degrading the environmental impact of tires throughout their life cycles. Should we believe in this goal? Florent Menegaux, who attended the 24 Hours of Le Mans, responds to this question unequivocally: “Yes! We are on the way, and I’m struck by the speed at which we are making progress.”
According to Michelin, the sustainable car tires that have now been unveiled pave the way for the future technology that will be used to manufacture Michelin’s standard tires in two to three years’ time. Michelin has set a target of using 100 percent renewable materials in all its tires by 2050.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems contributes to enhanced environmental and economic sustainability using patented technology for the recovery of valuable raw materials from scrapped and end-of-life products, including tires. Since 2020, Michelin has been Enviro’s single largest shareholder.
