Opinion: Why better tyres are the key to successful fleets

By Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, CEO and co-founder of Enso

Is the car a successful invention? It’s certainly a helpful one, cars enable us to visit our loved ones, fetch food and supplies, pursue our economic goals and explore the world around us. 

Luckily, our planet is home to around 1.5 billion cars, improving the lives of those who use them in myriad ways. But cars are also harmful, polluting the air, land and water and contributing to climate change, negatively impacting on as many people as they help. 

The car is vital to our modern way of life, but to be truly successful, the balance between its pros and cons must surely be tipped more definitively toward the positive. 

Cars can and must quickly and dramatically reduce their negative impacts to deliver on their full potential. 

But while great effort has rightly been expended to reduce and even eliminate the emissions which come from exhaust pipes, an equally important piece of the environmental puzzle has mostly been left out of the conversation: tyres. 

Every time a car accelerates, brakes or turns, its tyres create microscopic dust which enters our environment. 

Combined, this invisible dust equates to over six million tons of tyre pollution each year, and more airborne particulate matter than all tailpipes combined. 

It is now known that tyres are a major contributor to microplastic pollution, urban air pollution and the poisoning of aquatic environments. 

Tyres on vehicles in London alone, for example, emit an astonishing 9,000 tonnes of tyre dust each year.

The short lifecycle of tyres is not purely an environmental issue, either, but also one of cost. As many in the fleet industry will know all too well, poor-quality tyres present an operational and financial drain, increasing the total cost of operations and creating safety hazards on our roads. 

Yet despite all these factors, tyres have long remained unseen and underregulated.

At Enso, we often say that the only reason ‘tyre-gate’ hasn’t happened yet is because, unlike ‘diesel-gate’, there are no laws being broken by making bad tyres. But that is now beginning to change. 

In Europe, the EURO7 regulations will soon come into effect, with the aim of reducing emissions from tyres and brakes, the first step in creating international standards to address tyre pollution. 

Recent efforts by the California Energy Commission, the California Air Resources Board and the California Environmental Protection Agency are also looking to create stricter regulations.

Still, the lack of independent, comprehensive data on tyres highlights a critical gap in understanding and addressing their impact. In the ongoing absence of cohesive measurement or regulation, the tyre industry continues to chase ever increasing volume, with no incentive to prioritise tyre longevity, sustainability or innovation. 

It is therefore clear how the status quo hinders progress and impacts negatively on consumers. 

All of this is of course before we get to the fact that electric vehicles (EV) use their tyres differently to traditional internal combustion engined (ICE) vehicles. 

Fleets transitioning from ICE to EVs therefore face unique challenges, such as accelerated tyre wear, due to the specific characteristics of EVs and the urban environments in which they operate. 

Conversely, choosing better tyres can both increase EV range and reduce operating costs, making the switch to EVs even more significant. 

Our solution is simple: by developing more durable and efficient tyres specifically designed for EVs, we can not only greatly reduce the volume and toxicity of pollution, but lower energy and tyre costs for fleets, helping to make EVs more successful. 

To deliver the required change, at the speed and scale necessary, a corresponding speed and scale of regulation is needed across the tyre industry. 

We cannot afford to keep waiting. The aftermarket comprises almost 90% of the total industry, but proposed EURO7 regulations only initially apply to OE-fit products. 

By acting quickly and decisively we can not only deliver better products for consumers but force the industry to improve as well.

For fleets, stronger regulations for aftermarket tyres would reduce operating costs and minimise environmental impact, helping to achieve sustainability goals while improving operational efficiency and aiding the planet.

The technology to make better tyres already exists, but there is limited pressure from regulators for manufacturers to do better. While the dominant manufacturers wait for legislators to force them to change, aftermarket producers and their fleet customers can get a head start on saving time, money and the environment. 

We have the ability, willpower and demand to produce better tyres for EVs, ones that extend range, last longer, reduce particulate pollution and still increase both safety and efficiency, while saving costs. That is how we make cars, and electric cars in particular, more successful.