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Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

interestingengineering.com

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Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#161

Post by mcguire »

jagger27 wrote: post #132
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>rechargeable >sustainable "retreadable" but the marketing department didn't think that had sufficient appeal for the demographics the press release was targeted it.

It's common for aircraft and other heavy duty equipment's tires to be retreaded. Seems like a reasonable thing to do on passenger vehicles if it can be scaled.

Something like 45% of commercial tires are retreads and something like 90% of large fleets use retreads (https://www.worktruckonline.com/10128897/last-miles-growing-..., https://www.tirereview.com/revisiting-consumer-retreads/).

On the other hand, I'm not sure about retreading tires with higher speed ratings.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#162

Post by Decker87 »

godelski wrote: post #150
throwawaytire01 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

What are the reasons for it constantly being 3-5 years away? Technology? Regulations? Both? Manufacturers not thinking the public will understand tradeoffs and unwilling to take the risk and explain this to them? Can it at least work as a spare tire?

I can't answer your question exactly, but I can add that regular air tires have advanced tremendously in the last 30 years. It's also a moving target for these airless ones to compete against.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#163

Post by ashtonkem »

robocat wrote: post #148
ashtonkem wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Houses nearby highways are low value because the owners are too lazy to manicure their lawns” is an explanation I don’t buy one bit. It’s too “just so” for my tastes, and it also contradicts my own personal experience of having my house value go up despite us purposefully killing the yard. Home values change for a lot of reasons outside the owners control; blaming it on the owners for not caring sufficiently about c…

I suspect a significant causation could be that living near a highway is low status, and having a beautifully manicured lawn is often about trying to signal high status. Why bother with a high status lawn on a low status property?

Probably a bit of both.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#164

Post by endswapper »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #125
endswapper wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I mean recyclable in a conventional sense the way most people understand it.

Energy cost is probably the single biggest obstacle for the technology I mentioned above. Renewable energy is changing this.

Most plastics will soon be a part of an efficient closed loop system. Regulations are driving some of this. However, the real driver is that these systems are incredibly profitable, and serve risk and resource management priorities as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon and others started accepting plastics and paper returns. Their consumption is massive and they already have a logistics closed loop in place.

Plastics are an incredible innovation and a valuable resource. Misinformation about their recyclability is a threat to their stewardship.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#165

Post by clairity »

mcguire wrote: post #154
throwawaytire01 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

I've seen them quite a bit lately on commercial lawn mowers. Of course, there, puncture resistance trumps vehicle control and ride comfort by a large margin.

i would love to see this or a similar technology for electric scooters. the tubes seem to reliably pop every dozen or so rides, and the current alternative solid/no-flat tires really compromise on ride quality and handling. larger wheels (they're usually in the 7-9" range) would help too, but there's probably a practical limit to how big the wheels can be, perhaps 12-15" without too much compromise (motor power and ergonomics being two limiting factors).

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#166

Post by HPsquared »

vel0city wrote: post #160
throwawaytire01 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

I grew up down the street from NASA. Airless tires was always just a few years away since I learned to ride a bike.

NASA has some unique challenges because they usually can't use elastomers (too hot/cold), so their tires are usually metal.

Airless tires usually depend on a finely-tuned elastic polymer of some kind with a fairly narrow temperature range.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#168

Post by ben_w »

mrfusion wrote: post #28

GOOD point by my wife, why don’t we work on puncture resistance instead? Reinforce the tires with Kevlar or carbon fiber?

My bicycle tires are kevlar (I think) reinforced for puncture resistance. For me it was absolutely worth the cost, given how often I had been getting punctures before that: on a roughly 12-18 minute cycle commute, I went from one every month or so with normal tires to no puncture ever until the tire itself wore out.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#169

Post by Alupis »

hermitdev wrote: post #156
jagger27 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common for aircraft and other heavy duty equipment's tires to be retreaded. Seems like a reasonable thing to do on passenger vehicles if it can be scaled.

It's also common for semis to shed retreads at highway speeds. Having hit one on the highway, no thanks. We don't need more highway missiles and debris, which is precisely what would happen if retreads were common on passenger vehicles.

This was the number one problem with retreads for the trucking industry, and most mechanics viewed retreads as cheap (the bad kind of cheap), low quality ways to keep trucks rolling, preferring new wherever possible.

Perhaps the tech has matured some, but I doubt it. You're still attempting to bond two different soft materials.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#170

Post by Spivak »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #58
dotancohen wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rechargeable: Adding tread. Connected: Reports tread status and configuration, e.g. to inform the driver that he should change to a winter tire tread. Sustainable: Recycled and recyclable.

>Connected: Reports tread status and configuration, e.g. to inform the driver that he should change to a winter tire tread. That sounds like everything that's terrible about printer ink but with the decimal moved once to the right. I can imagine a world where your tires stop working because you had them re-treaded with a tread pattern or the OEM won't honor a warranty item because you didn't use an approved brand of…

It's only terrible because we've created a system that incentivizes it being made purposely terrible for profit. The idea that your tires can monitor their own wear should be a good thing.
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