Bridgestone has announced the launch of Enliten, a new innovative lightweight tire technology that reduces the tire’s rolling resistance by up to 20%, contributing to the reduction of a vehicle’s CO2 emissions and reducing the fuel consumption.
In addition, Enliten enables passenger car tires to be reduced in weight by 10 percent without sacrificing their service life, and improving the vehicle’s handling performance and stability.
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.
Bridgestone’s Enliten is promising to become the breakthrough solution to achieve those goals because it helps to reduce the tire’s rolling resistance by on average, 20% from a standard premium summer touring tire (according to the results of Bridgestone in-company tests carried out in accordance with ISO28580 procedure that involved Turanza T005 of two sizes — 205/55 R16 91H and 255/40 R20 101W).
The Enliten tires will help to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in combustion vehicles, while also extending battery life and vehicle range in electric vehicles.
Yet another benefit of the Enliten technology is the fact that it enables passenger tires to be reduced in weight by, on average, 10 percent from a standard premium summer touring tire. This not only ensures that less raw materials are used to manufacture the tires, but also contributes to the reduced rolling resistance.
Bridgestone emphasizes that Enliten is able to achieve all that without any damage to the tire’s resistance to wear or safety. The technology even improves the vehicle’s handling and stability to increase driving pleasure.
Bridgestone Corporation invests heavily in R&D, spending approximately €800 million per year to develop new technologies, products and solutions. Bridgestone will soon be announcing partnerships that will see Enliten technology applied to vehicles in the European market.
