At TMC 2024, the future is now for sustainable tire tech

Authored by Brian Cunningham, Vice President, Fleet Solutions, Bridgestone Mobility Solutions

The transportation industry is all about movement – moving goods and services, and keeping the supply chain moving. Indeed, that concept of “movement” seems to be a constant theme in our industry today, with an eye toward the future. As the commercial trucking industry evolves, so, too, does an emphasis on corporate responsibility and environmental sustainability, as well as the role that technology can play in achieving those goals.

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I felt these themes while attending Technology & Maintenance Council’s annual meetings in New Orleans this week. I was honored to be able to represent Bridgestone on a panel entitled “Future Tire: The Sustainable Tire,” joining other tire manufacturers and sharing how our companies are evolving tire development and manufacturing in a more sustainable world. That’s an easy story tell for Bridgestone: Sustainability has been engrained as a foundational part of Bridgestone’s history, and it’s the purpose driving our vision to become a world-leading sustainable solutions company.

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Using our Bridgestone E8 Commitment as a guide, we’ve set ambitious goals for the future, including 2050 targets for carbon neutrality and delivering tires made from 100% renewable materials. This is all part of our “North Star Framework” that sets forth a forward-looking vision that builds on our foundation as a company aiming to serve society. Of course, this is not an overnight process. But as I told attendees at TMC, Bridgestone has already begun to make sustainability a foundational aspect of our business.

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Advancing tire development

One of our strategies surrounding sustainability involves our new ENLITEN tech stack. ENLITEN is a core technology that realizes best-in-class products focused on the sustainability and evolution of mobility. We are beginning to incorporate our new ENLITEN tech stack into our products, solutions, and manufacturing processes. For commercial products, this tech stack enables expansion of performance for longer wear life, lower rolling resistance, improved durability, better traction, and enhanced sustainability without historic tradeoffs. ENLITEN will become a foundational piece of our sustainability strategy going forward.

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We are already seeing the impact of ENLITEN on our tires in the market. In 2023, we introduced the Bridgestone Turanza EV consumer tire as the first replacement market tire in North America to feature ENLITEN technology. The Turanza EV also exemplifies material circularity at work, with Bridgestone continually exploring tire development utilizing more sustainable materials. The Turanza EV supports an increased use of renewable and recycled materials such as recycled carbon black from end-of-life tires, synthetic rubber derived from recycled plastic bags and bottles, and soybean oil, to name a few.

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Putting our very best into tires

Material circularity is a vital component to more sustainable operations, and we continue to aim for this approach in the Commercial space as well; for instance, we regularly use soybean oil in our Firestone Ag tires produced in Des Moines.

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Another good example of this is Bridgestone’s exploration of guayule integration into tires. Guayule is a tough, desert-growing shrub and renewable resource that Bridgestone is cultivating to establish commercial production of natural rubber here domestically. We have begun using guayule within INDYCAR as a proving grounds for this new source of natural rubber.

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As with other companies, we also continue to explore the use of recovered carbon black in our tires. Recovered carbon black presents the opportunity to reduce the tire industry’s reliance on petrochemicals and can reduce tire emissions by up to 85% compared to virgin materials.

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Using technology, retreading to fleets’ advantage

Once tires are produced in a more sustainable way, it remains vital to enable fleets to get the most out of those tires. That’s where Bridgestone Fleet Care comes in. Bridgestone Fleet Care is designed to bring our entire suite of products, services and solutions together in one place. Most importantly, this approach ensures that customers have access to solutions that enable their fleet business, of any size, to run more efficiently – and sustainably. Fleets that utilize retreading and integrated solutions can realize the most benefits in this realm.

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Retreaded tires are one of the oldest examples of a circular economy, requiring less energy and one-third of the raw materials needed to manufacture compared to a new tire. The best way to keep tires out of landfills is to prevent them from getting there in the first place – and retreading keeps tires on the road for fleets. ?

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While fleets are on the road, fleet owners want to know how those tires are performing. Bridgestone Fleet Care tire monitoring technology enables actionable insights for fleet owners who seek improved efficiency across the board. The ability to harness this data in the palm of your hand is vitally important to fleets, limiting downtime, saving money, and helping to achieve sustainability goals. Without question, technology is here to stay in the transportation and fleet industry.

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The future is now

These topics and others were top of mind for attendees at TMC this week. In speaking with key customers and colleagues, it was clear the future is now in our industry.

But at Bridgestone, our sustainability journey is as much about the past as it is the future. Bridgestone’s founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, cemented “Serving Society with Superior Quality” as a foundational element to our business when he founded it in 1931. With our Commercial business, we know when fleets incorporate premium tires, digital solutions and retreads together, customers can maximize the life of every tire – and help contribute to a circular economy along the way.