{"id":10042,"date":"2021-03-02T13:55:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T12:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=10042"},"modified":"2021-03-02T13:55:27","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T12:55:27","slug":"commercial-tires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2021\/03\/02\/commercial-tires\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Trends Affecting the Future of Commercial Tires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: BYD<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

What will electric trucks mean for commercial tires?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

How are trucking trends going to affect the commercial tires you buy in the future? We asked tire makers for their predictions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe operate in a dynamic and evolving industry,\u201d says Ben Johnson, director of TBR brand and channel marketing,\u00a0U.S. and Canada, for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. \u201cAutomation, electrification, and changing consumer trends will continue to impact the industry at large. The needs of fleet customers are evolving as a result. Delivering top-performing tire products won\u2019t be enough to meet a fleet\u2019s needs in the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Goodyear looks to the future, it believes there will be growth in fleets, autonomous, connected, and electric (FACE) vehicles \u2014 all of which will likely impact truck tires.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate higher load capacity for the same size tires as EV manufacturers look for ways to accommodate battery weight,\u201d said Dustin Lancy, commercial product marketing manager, regional\/urban for Goodyear.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Maximizing Uptime and Tire Costs<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Johnson predicts that fleets increasingly \u201cwill look to partner with manufacturers and service providers who can help them maximize their tire assets through tire-centric solutions that improve safety and efficiency and make preventive tire maintenance easier.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fleets are shifting more and more toward the lowest overall driving cost approach, rather than just looking at up-front tire prices, says Tom Fanning, Continental\u2019s U.S. market manager for truck and bus tires.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShifting to the lowest overall driving cost approach means seamlessly collecting and analyzing tire data to evaluate and improve performance,\u201d Fanning says. \u201cWe also see an increasing need to monitor and predict the impact of other factors, such as driver behavior and vehicle maintenance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan Funkhouser, vice president of commercial sales at Yokohama Tire, adds that \u201cno matter what new technologies are in store, fleets will always be looking for tires that offer the lowest total cost of ownership and get the job done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of lowest total cost of ownership is low-rolling-resistance tires that offer improved fuel economy and meet greenhouse gas regulations, so the industry has a high demand for low rolling resistance products that can handle heavy loads.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis vehicle trend first started in urban, pickup and\u00a0delivery areas, and Hankook has already adapted to the change by adjusting load index development,\u201d says Robert Williams, vice president of TBR sales for Hankook Tire America.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Last-Mile Delivery Needs Tires up to the Challenge<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cLight- and medium-duty sales continue to expand with the growth of Amazon and other last-mile delivery fleets,\u201d says Dan Funkhouser, vice president of commercial sales at Yokohama Tire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"As<\/span>
As Goodyear looks to the future, it believes there will be growth in fleets, autonomous, connected, and electric (FACE) vehicles \u2014 all of which will likely impact truck tires.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo: Goodyear<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The growth of e-commerce has leaped 10 years in just a few short months, says Chris Novak, business model leader urban mobility for Michelin North America. \u201cOver time, the commercial light-truck tire market is growing at a much faster rate than the large truck tire market,\u201d he said, noting this is also true for medium-duty truck tires.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFinal-mile fleets have been bolstered by the drastic increase in online purchases,\u201d says Dave Johnston, senior manager commercial business and product development for Toyo Tire U.S.A. \u201cMore commercial van fleets are coming onstream and looking for ways to improve their efficiencies. The 19.5-inch segment of the trucking industry is expected to continue to grow as fleets look to these platforms to attract drivers to the trucking industry and capitalize on the versatility of the upfitting available.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to see an increase in delivery truck tire sales, as well as new segments being created as manufacturers strive to carve out additional market share for themselves,\u201d says Bob Klimm, director, truck and bus radials, for Falken Tires. \u201cOne example of this is a trend with three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) commercial truck tires. In the past, commercial tires were seemingly exempt from snow traction testing to achieve 3PMSF. But we\u2019ve started seeing more brands adopt this marking to appeal to fleets operating in regions that experience inclement weather.”<\/span><\/p>\n

As e-commerce continues to grow, the medium-duty segment is an emerging segment, says Gary Schroeder, Cooper Tire executive director, Global Truck and Bus Tire Business. For tire makers, he says, \u201chaving a complete tire portfolio meeting needs of Class 1 through Class 8 vehicles in delivery fleets is key.\u00a0The use of national account programs for super-regional and national fleets will grow in importance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Electric Vehicles Need Tires Too<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

As electric trucks inch closer to day-to-day reality, Cooper\u2019s Schroeder notes that the differences in torque produced by a combustion engine compared to an electric motor produces will impact tire design \u2014 both tread patterns and compounds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost likely tread patterns will be impacted the most,\u201d Schroeder says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last-mile delivery and refuse applications are two vocations that are positioned to start using electric vehicles in the near term.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEVs align to these vocations nicely because they can return to their yards daily for charging. They can install the charging infrastructure needed and charge vehicles each night before they are used for service the following day. Miles to removal, start\/stop traction, and scrubbing remain among the top tire needs for these fleets,\u201d says Goodyear\u2019 Lancy.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. What Happens to Tires When There’s No Driver?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Further out on the horizon than electric trucks are autonomous vehicles, whether fully \u201cself-driving\u201d or in a scenario such as an automated platoon where the second driver can take a nap while his truck follows the leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLimitations currently in effect for driver work hours will not have the same impact with autonomous vehicles, possibly increasing travel hours in a day for trucks, putting a premium on tire life as well as the economy,\u201d says Falken\u2019s Klimm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest challenge will be ensuring industry standards are in place for \u201csmart\u201d tires, says Cooper Tire\u2019s Schroeder. \u201cLike the automotive industry adopting AIAG back in the early 1990s to provide some commonality in vehicle standards, the trucking industry should consider something similar.\u00a0For each OEM and tire manufacturer to develop their proprietary systems may have short-term benefits. Still, in the long run, it presents much complexity for fleets to be familiar with all the different methods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Goodyear\u2019s Lancy predicts that the rise of autonomous and connected vehicles \u201cwill place significant importance on sensor technology and data-driven approaches to achieving consistent and predictable performance across various states of the tire lifecycle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Goodyear recently inked a deal with TuSimple to study how autonomous trucks will affect tires. Not only will Goodyear provide tires and repair services; the two companies also will conduct wear studies designed to understand how autonomous trucks and tires can help better predict maintenance, understand tire longevity and reduce the carbon impact of fleets. The study will also deliver insights into the difference between an autonomous and human driver with respect to the tires.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry will likely open to autonomous driving once infrastructure and regulations are set,\u201d says Hankook\u2019s Williams, \u201cand this will include the TBR industry, in which case trucks will be driving much longer than they used to. Tire endurance will become a significant factor. We predict that non-pneumatic tires will become more popular because of this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Grant Edgeley, market forecast and insights manager for Michelin North America, doesn\u2019t anticipate that autonomous trucks will become widely used until 2025, at least.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen autonomous trucks do become more widely used, we anticipate a balance in tire demand as more efficient driving and more regularly scheduled preventive maintenance will occur, offset by increased truck usage, as truck driver breaks will be less of a constraint to total \u2018on the road\u2019 driving time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lauren Fletcher is Executive Editor of Work Truck magazine. Portions of this appeared in a Work Truck feature, State of the Commercial Truck Tire Industry<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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by Lauren Fletcher and Deborah Lockridge<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.truckinginfo.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Photo: BYD What will electric trucks mean for commercial tires? How are trucking trends going to affect the commercial tires you buy in the future? We asked tire makers for their predictions. \u201cWe operate in a dynamic and evolving industry,\u201d says Ben Johnson, director of TBR brand and channel marketing,\u00a0U.S. and Canada, for Bridgestone Americas…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10044,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042\/revisions\/10044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}