Another great way to improve the environment is biking for trips below 5-10 miles. This carbon offset would do laps around car ownership.
In mountainous locations, that is not an option.
Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
121–130 of 196 posts
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#122That "Hit the Streets" is an exaggeration, the actual quote from the article on timeline: -- the company said they were on track for tires to reach the market by 2024. --
I am an engineer working in the tire industry (throwaway is needed here). The Michelin "Tweel" IP was actually acquired when Michelin bought BF Goodrich 31 years ago. Goodrich developed the concept as a replacement for compact spare tires, doing the initial R&D in the 1980s. Every 3--5 years Michelin has a press release like this, and the technology is always 3--5 years away from release. Currently the US DOT and it'…
Thanks for explaining that. I feel like I heard about the "Tweel" in the 90s in Popular Mechanics, and occasionally since then.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#123There have been a number of reports of components of rubber tiers being harmful to humans[1] or the broader environment[2] beyond the waste issue, would be interesting to know if these manage to improve on that. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/11/pollutin... [2] https://www.opb.org/article/2020/12/04/scientists-point-to-c...
If it's biodegradable, that would help. Only what remains of the tires ends up in landfills/recycled. The rest is a major contributor to microplastics in our oceans. The tires don't just erode into nothing. Those particles (mixed with particles from the road service) become dust that ends up in sewers when it rains, which drain to rivers, which drain to oceans. By the time the tire is used up, we're talking a sizable…
This is one of the many reasons I'm firmly in the "urbanization or bust" camp. Rail-based infrastructure is lower-carbon, doesn't require batteries, and doesn't require tires, but it's only practical in high-density cities. Streetcar suburbs represent a reasonable minimum.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#124I wonder about ride quality.
My car had runflats when I bought it, when it was time for new tires, I went with some high quality all seasons. My ride quality improved, my gas mileage went up and they brake / corner better. The risk of an unplugable flat is a small price to pay for that.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
A very small fraction of plastics are recyclable. I highly doubt whatever this tire is, it's not recyclable.
This is not true. Essentially, all plastics are recyclable, and it merely depends on the technology available.
I guess that depends on how you define recyclable. I mean really, everything recycles given a long enough time frame.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#126That "Hit the Streets" is an exaggeration, the actual quote from the article on timeline: -- the company said they were on track for tires to reach the market by 2024. --
Ok, we've taken them off the streets and scheduled them for market launch in 2024, in the title above. Thanks :)
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#127>Through its Vision Concept, the company wants to make tires that are airless, rechargeable, connected, and sustainable. 1) airless, check. 2) rechargeable ?? 3) connected ?? 4) sustainable ??
1) airless?? there's air within the wheel spokes pressurized to 1 atm
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s also a decent chunk of what causes economic blight for housing nearby highways.
Any noise a normal-ish passenger car is of no consequence compared to the noise of heavy trucks and motorcycles. You don't even notice it. It's only "blighted" because the people who self select to live beside a highway tend not to be the ones who care a ton about making their residence look nice from the street (manicured lawn, nice siding, sealed driveway, etc, etc) so the prices stay cheap, the rents stay low and…
Living near a highway can have profound and long-lasting detrimental effects to one's health.[0]
[0]https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/who-is-at-risk/highw...
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
That will interfere with cooling. Heat buildup will reduce lifespan. This was researched and practiced since at least first world war, with pioneering applications dating to 1850s. TLDR: internal friction in the rubber kills it. Acceptable for military and heavy-duty vehicles, useless for anything else.
Good that they are glass fiber reinforced plastic and not rubber then.
Tires were hemp-reinfoced plastic, then steel-reinforced plastic, they are now actually fiberglass-reinforced plastic.
It doesn't matter. So long as elasticity is provided not by gas compression, but solid material compression/tension, that solid material will deteriorate fast.
Downvote me all you want, but this idea won't fly. It can't compete with regular tires at anything above 20mph.
Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s also a decent chunk of what causes economic blight for housing nearby highways.
I would think it's the air pollution reducing your lifespan and causing asthma. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6203a8.htm
You’ll notice I said “decent chunk” and not “100% of the cause”