Conti presenting ‘most sustainable commercial tire to date’

Hanover, Germany – Continental AG is introducing a series of new, ‘sustainable and efficient’ truck & bus tires at IAA Transportation 2024, being held 17–22 Sept in Hanover.

Among other products, Continental will display the Conti Urban NXT, which it claims to be the “most sustainable commercial-vehicle tire to date.”

The tire has a 59% renewable, recycled and ISCC+ content, up to 25 percentage points more than the average share of sustainable materials used in Continental’s commercial vehicle tires.

Urban NXT incorporates 24% ISCC+ materials, such as sustainable synthetic rubber and carbon black from bio-based, bio-circular and/or circular raw materials, the group said 5 Sept.

The tire, it added, includes 3% recycled materials such as recycled rubber originating from mechanically processed end-of-life tires as well as recycled steel.

Renewable materials, such as natural rubber, form the remaining 32% of the sustainable-content of the tire.

The tire is being offered as OE, particularly suited for electrified buses and delivery vehicles for ‘city transport’.

A pre-production version of the all-season tire will be on display at IAA Transportation, with the commercial market-launch planned for 2025. 

In addition, Continental will be exhibiting its new Conti EfficientPro 5 truck tire for OE applications at the IAA event.

Rolling resistance has been improved by 10% compared with its predecessor model and the tire offers “excellent” energy efficiency, rated with EU tire label Class A.

Continental said the lower rolling resistance was achieved by combining a “special tread rubber compound” with the tire’s rigid profile. This, it noted, extends mileage by around 5% compared with the predecessor model.

Also being displayed on Ford, Iveco, Scania and Volvo long-haul trucks at the Hanover show, the tire also maintains the “running and wet braking performance” of its predecessor.

Designed for trucks with both combustion engines and electric drive engines, the Conti EfficientPro 5 will be commercially available from 2025.

Continental will also showcase the Conti EcoPlus HT3+, the latest iteration of its trailer tire specifically designed for trailers with an electrified drive axle.

The tire’s features have been specifically geared to new-generation trailers featuring fully electric drive axles.

The tire’s load capacity has been increased by 500kg per axle to enable a constant payload despite the higher net weight resulting from the battery.