Nexen develops 70% sustainable tire

Seoul – Nexen Tire has developed a tire that uses 70% sustainable raw materials, significantly higher than a previous model featuring 52% of such materials.

The new tire has been developed in response to strengthened environmental regulations in 'advanced' markets, including Europe, the Korean tire maker said 12 Feb.

Still requiring additional R&D for commercialisation, the prototype is stated to incorporate 53% bio-based renewable raw materials and 17% recycled content.

Components include “bio-synthetic rubber”, rice bran silica, recycled PET cord, bead wire and steel cord made from recycled scrap iron.

The tire has delivered “excellent results” in terms of performance, with a rolling resistance coefficient of 5.11 N/kN which, said Nexen, represents a "grade A" performance.

The low rolling resistance, noted the tire maker, reduces the energy-consumption of tires on the road, thereby saving fuel and lowering CO2 emissions.

The development is part of Nexen’s strategy to produce 100% sustainable tires by 2045, according to a company official.

To date, Nexen said it had completed assessments on about 90 types of sustainable raw materials and planned to conduct 12 more assessments this year.