FINDLAY, Ohio – Cooper Tire & Rubber says it has completed work under a $1.5 million government grant to develop advanced tire technology aimed at increasing vehicle fuel efficiency. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, called for Cooper to develop technology for light vehicle tires that delivered a minimum 3 percent improvement in vehicle fuel efficiency while lowering average tire weight by at least 20 percent, all without sacrificing performance.
Cooper says it was successful in developing technologies that exceeded the project’s goals, delivering an average fuel efficiency improvement of 5.5 percent and weight reduction ranging from 23 percent to 37 percent in concept tires. The grant period began in late 2011 and continued through the end of 2014, with Cooper recently presenting its findings to the DOE. Tire development work under the grant was done at Cooper’s North America and Global Technical Centers, both located in Findlay, Ohio.
“The technical challenges presented by this program were significant, yet the work was extremely gratifying as we addressed sustainability and performance,” said Chuck Yurkovich, Cooper’s senior vice president of global research and development. “Improving vehicle fuel efficiency by a minimum of 3 percent was accomplished by developing a product with more than 30 percent lower rolling resistance. Reducing tire weight by a minimum of 20 percent required us to make a product that is five to six pounds lighter than the baseline 26-pound tire. All of this was accomplished without any trade-offs in performance or durability.
“Our innovative approach was to develop a new energy efficient tire profile and design in combination with an ultra lightweight tire construction. The process utilized innovative materials not typically used in tires today. In all, we developed and evaluated six new technologies as part of the program’s first phase. We also evaluated the holistic impact of putting all of these technologies into a concept tire in the program’s second phase. Combining these advancements allowed us to reach and exceed the grant’s aggressive goals. We are extremely proud of the team’s achievements,” Yurkovich added.
As a result of the grant work, Cooper has already incorporated new tire modeling technology into its development process and is evaluating long wearing and fuel efficient tread compound technology for use in future tires for the replacement and original equipment markets. Other technologies are being further developed for potential commercial applications in the future.
