Yokohama rolls on orange oil

Yokohama Rubber Company launched its DNA Earth-1 tire in Japan today.

Part of the company's 11-tire Eco DNA line, the Earth-1 tire claims to reduce rolling resistance by 21 percent.

The secret is a proprietary compound Yokohama calls Super Nanopower Rubber, or SNR, made from orange oil and natural rubber. The company says SNR makes the rubber more flexible, which reduces friction and a resulting energy loss in heat, which translates to increased vehicle fuel efficiency.

Yokohama's first Eco DNA tire was the DB E-Spec, which became available in Japan in July 2007 and claimed to reduce rolling resistance by 18 percent. The company says it had been working on the Eco DNA line the last decade.

Other tire manufacturers such as Goodyear, Bridgestone and Michelin have already released low rolling resistance tires which are being used in vehicles worldwide.

Michael Wischhusen, industry standards and government regulations director for Michelin North America, said Michelin has been releasing low rolling resistance tires for over a decade.

"It's really part of who we are," he said. "The tire does have a role to play in overall vehicle efficiency."

Adam Gottlieb, spokesman for the California Energy Commission, echoes the sentiment. "If just one third of Californians bought fuel-efficient tires we'd cut fuel use by 100 million gallons a year," Gottlieb told the Cleantech Group. "There could be savings of $340 million U.S. per year. That's real money."

The Yokohama DNA Earth-1 tire's expected release date outside of Japan has not yet been announced.

By the time it arrives, though, Yokohama and other manufacturers can expect to see U.S. federal and state consumer information programs weighing in on eco tires' actual contributions to vehicle fuel efficiencies.

Therese Langer, transportation program director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said the new Yokohama tire is "definitely a positive development," but also raised a potential consideration for consumers.

While low-rolling resistant tires help car manufacturers meet fuel standards, she said, replacement tires aren’t required to do the same.

"I do think that the consumer information program will serve to generate more manufacturer interest in something that really goes untouched," Langer said, referring to a project included in the energy bill the U.S. Congress passed last year.

The bill included plans to establish a consumer awareness program about low rolling resistance tires.

"We think that's good. We supported that," said Dan Zielinski, spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association. "But right now there's no uniform information about how to compare relative tire efficiencies," he said. "There's just no objective information out there for consumers to do that."

While the United States works on educating consumers about their tires, Europe is debating the balance between being green and being safe.

The European Union is planning to introduce an environment label that will show consumers tire rolling resistance levels.

Some tire manufacturers, including Continental AG, worry that that emphasis on vehicle efficiency overlooks safety concerns. Tests indicate that tires with lower rolling resistance take longer to brake on wet roads.

"Good tires must combine low rolling resistance and good braking properties," said Burkhard Wies, Continental's head of passenger tire development for the replacement business.

"Anything else would be a clear step backwards in terms of road safety, which would not only affect car drivers, but also playing children, pedestrians and cyclists. In the European Road Safety Charter, the E.U. undertook to halve the number of deaths in road accidents to 25,000 by 2010—that should be the overriding theme."