Cleaning up motoring isn’t just about replacing internal combustion engines with electric powertrains. Almost every part of a car—from its seats to the plastics used in the interior—could stand to become more sustainable.
Tires are one component that could stand to reinvent itself to become less harmful to the environment. Thankfully, it looks like manufacturers have gotten the memo.
Goodyear, for example, is already working on bringing tires that are almost completely sustainable to market. The brand recently unveiled a tire partly made of soybean oil and rice husk that’s supposedly 90% sustainable.
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The oil used in the tires comes from soybean byproducts from animal feeds. The tire’s silica, meanwhile, was made using rice husk waste that would normally be headed for landfills. Other green materials that went into the tire’s development include bio-renewable pine tree resins and bead wire made of recycled content.
What’s more, the demonstration tire was also found to have lower rolling resistance. This means that it can potentially offer motorists improved fuel economy on top of a reduction in their carbon footprint.
The company says that this tire product has already passed regulatory testing. How long do you think it will be before tires like this become the norm in the automotive industry?
