Bridgestone is Likely to Make a Breakthrough in Tire Production
During a couple of years Bridgestone engineers have been working hard under an innovative technology that can bring something completely new into the tire-making industry. And they didn’t spend their time in vain, which was proven at the latest automotive show in Frankfurt.
The laborious work resulted into the new technology that helps the tire define the type of a road surface for you to stay on a safe side in any situation. It is based on the Contact Area Information Sensing (CAIS) concept with a special sensor to transmit vibration from road irregularities to special equipment in your vehicle.
The smart system recognizes seven types of road surface – dry, semi-dry, wet, slush, fresh snow, compact snow and ice. You can see the information on a dedicated monitor in a salon.
By providing drivers with the information about the state of the road, the new technology helps them to get ready to tough driving conditions like rains or snowfalls. Moreover, the owners of CIAS equipped cars can share the info with other traffic participants, which helps significantly improve overall safety on the roads.
The precise equipment has been tested for two winter seasons on public roads in Japan (Hokkaido), the place being subject to frequent snowfalls and black ice buildup. The results were reported on an annual congress of the Japan Society of Automotive Engineers.
The Biggest Dumper is Equipped with the Largest Tire in the World
The largest dumper in the world, the Caterpillar 795F, that operates in Lapland now is equipped with the Bridgestone VRPS. The dumper is used on an open copper mine in Lapland. The vehicle features an electric drive and weighs as much as 570 tons.
Bridgestone VRPS tire (with the letters translating as V-Steel Rock Premium Service) are designed to endure loads up to 100 tons and can operate even in toughest environment. The tire is made in Japan and measures four meters in diameter.
The tire is twice as high as human beings. Since it is 1.47 meters wide and weighs 5,75 tons, one needs to treat them in a special way in terms of transportation and use. It was driven on a gigantic 16-ton platform trailer where it was placed with the help of special 16-ton loaders.
Bridgestone VRPS (sized 59/80 R63) is widely used on open mines in both Americas and in Australia. Now it hits Europe for the first time.
Bridgestone is one of the leading producers of heavy tires in the world. The company offers a wide range of truck tires for use in seaports as well as in mining, construction and road industries. As the demand for such tire is growing now, Bridgestone plans to increase the production capacity of its Japanese plant to 130 tons by 2013.
Will Demand for Premium-Class Tire Grow?
Several years ago tire experts pointed to the phenomenon of desegmentation on the tire market, the situation, when cheap tire are highly in demand. Now, when the financial crisis is almost gone, premium-class tires are more and more frequently asked.
All in all, the demand for premium-class tire on the European market has grown by 5 per cent while at the same time In North America it dropped down by 2 per cent. The growth is more visible in truck tire segment rather than among passenger tires. Still, the coming fall with show the true state of things.
Bridgestone say that they didn’t manage to satisfy the demand for 500,000 passenger tires on the OE Japanese market. Two month ago the same statement was brought out by Renault Company. That’s why the analytics think that there’s no need to worry about prices on tires as they are in demand now.
Market tendencies may lead as well to a certain decline in sale amounts. Such predictions are caused by concerns about the reduction in gross domestic product in Europe rather than about the state of tire-making companies.
However, tire market is changeable and new tendencies appear. For instance, the experts are sure that the demand for premium-class replacement tire will grow in the nearest time, which is the consequence of increasing demand for premium-class cars.
Pirelli has already claimed that they are going to sell more premium-class tire this season than standard ones. Morgan Stanley experts agree with the company and point to the fact that it is the best situation for the company to benefit from the world-wide tendency for premium tires.
Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 Conquer the Alps
Electric cars and eco-friendly tires go side by side and set new distance records together. For instance, Nissan Leaf has recently run about 3 hundred miles in frames of an e-Miglia rally where 25 cars were competing. The car once received the “European car of the Year 2011” title while this time it proved its high-performance mobility with the help of Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 “green” tire.
The e-Miglia rally began in Munich from where the participants made a 500-mile journey through 4 countries to reach St. Moritz. The race lasted 4 days.
Nissan Leaf vehicle form the GreenSource Team Holland team came only the 17th, still it made the Leaf one of the best among four-door cars. The car was driven by Marc de Jong, Pure Sports Management director. He concludes that both the car and the tire were enjoyable. It was fun to go over mountain passes and soil roads, to drive on smooth highways and soft surfaces, rain or shine. The tire showed its best during the competition, he maintains.
Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 comes as Original Equipment for Nissan Leaf, the first electric car put to the mass market.
Ecopia is Bridgestone family of eco-friendly tires designed to reduce rolling resistance of vehicles they are used with. At the same time, the operational features don’t suffer and the tires deliver equal excellence in terms of both dry and wet traction. At the same time, the EP150 tire stands out of the crowd as it is made from NanoPro-Tech that helps lower fuel consumption. If the tire is used with an electric or hybrid car the compound provides for economic battery use.
