Bridgestone Europe Launching New Line of Low Rolling Resistance Tires

15 January 2009

Bridgestone will begin introducing a new line of Turanza ER300 Ecopia low rolling resistance tires to the European market in April.

Ecopia is Bridgestone’s flagship brand of low rolling resistance tires. In Japan, Ecopia tires were first used on electric-powered cars in 1991, setting the stage for the Ecopia M881 and Ecopia R221 series of tires for trucks and buses, which were released in the replacement market in 2002. Bridgestone launched the Ecopia M812 tire for light trucks in 2005, and then the Ecopia EP100 for passenger cars in April 2008.

Bridgestone Corporation also supplies Ecopia EP25 tires as standard equipment for Toyota Motor Corporation’s iQ.

Current Ecopia tires employ a compound that applies NanoPro-Tech, Bridgestone’s materials technology, which contributes to a reduction in rolling resistance and better fuel efficiency. NanoPro-Tech (Nanostructure-Oriented Properties Control Technology) draws out the characteristics required to control the microstructure of materials through molecular design.

NanoPro-Tech was announced in July 2006, and was first employed in the BLIZZAK REVO2 winter tire for passenger cars which was released in September 2006. It has also been employed in the Ecopia M891 II fuel-efficient tire for trucks and buses. The NanoPro-Tech is now one of Bridgestone’s core technologies.

Use of the Ecopia compound. Click to enlarge.

With a conventional tire polymer, the carbon molecules can clump together, causing friction and generating heat, leading to energy loss. In the Ecopia compound, the microstructure of the end-functionalized polymer, which is controlled by NanoPro-Tech, fuses with the carbon molecules. This keeps the carbon molecules dispersed, minimizing energy loss cause by friction between carbon molecules. (See diagram at right).