These look like they will quickly collect debris, become unbalanced, and vibrate horribly at highway speeds.
What would stop them from putting on sidewalls in production?
That would be a separate engineering problem. If it needs to be a different rubber or polymer compound then there's the bonding issue. They would need to have an air outlet to avoid pressure differential, but that then means one needs to figure out how to have a cheap waterproof valve because it probably is not desirable to have stagnant water inside.
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 e…
The unagi scooter has them[1]. In all honesty, they're garbage for NYC. They are somewhat of a hard plastic, and do not provide the kind of give that your want for roads which have imperfections. It saddens me that peoples first impression of micro mobility is this piece of junk that makes riding scarier and more dangerous than it would be with air tires.
It's likely possible to make a good airless tire, but I bet the materials would be expensive and I'm not sure what it's lifetime would be. Air tube tires remain the best option for micro mobility options.
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 e…
The unagi scooter has them[1]. In all honesty, they're garbage for NYC. They are somewhat of a hard plastic, and do not provide the kind of give that your want for roads which have imperfections. It saddens me that peoples first impression of micro mobility is this piece of junk that makes riding scarier and more dangerous than it would be with air tires. It's likely possible to make a good airless tire, but I bet th…
yah, i'm skeptical that a solid (rubber/plastic) tire can provide good suspension and handling performance cheaply across a wide variety of road hazards, in comparison to an air tire. that's why i think bigger tires (and thicker tubes) is probably the way to go, but perhaps advances in materials/manufacturing will make all kinds of tires incrementally better.
> Puncture-proof tires have been an intriguing concept for many years. Tire maker, Michelin, has been working on it since 2005 and after more than a decade of work, it is now closer to reality.
That is false. Tires like this are nothing hew; they have been around for over 100 years. They are useful in niche applications, like earth-moving machinery and whatnot.
Other than that, airless tires are rubbish and will not displace pneumatic tires.
>"Connected" tires sounds like there is a direct (as opposed to the car measuring the tire's shape in the TPMS from your example) information exchange between the tire and the car, something that does not happen now Michelin sells a tire mounted TPMS, also available pre-installed. https://business.michelinman.com/construction-industry/servi...
Not for cars, though. There is probably a market for tire monitoring in mining equipment, which is probably not constructed with the same built-in systems that consumer cars have.
You are incorrect. Most modern cars have TPMS to tell you when a tire is losing air. There are two ways to do it. Either you use the same signals ABS uses to tell how fast each wheel is spinning and look at the tire which spins at a different speed.
The other way is to have actual pressure sensors inline with the valves that wirelessly communicate with a system in the car. This method has the upside of allowing you to see constant tire pressure values on all four tires at all times. The downside is that it is more expensive, it's something that must be managed when you get tires or wheels changed, the batteries run out, you often have to pair each wheel-sensor to the car separately so that it knows which sensor is which wheel...
That "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'…
> The Michelin "Tweel" IP was actually acquired when Michelin bought BF Goodrich 31 years ago.
If thw core patent is 31 years old then that means it's been in the public domain for 11 years. Anyone should be able to make a variation thereof at this point - steering clear of other derivative patents of coarse.
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.
I haven't done too much long distance driving since COVID hit but I remember seeing shed retreads last time I was on the interstate. I always thought it was amazing that semis could get away with shedding them and driving away leaving at the least trash on the side of the road and at worst causing a dangerous accident.
> Puncture-proof tires have been an intriguing concept for many years. Tire maker, Michelin, has been working on it since 2005 and after more than a decade of work, it is now closer to reality. That is false. Tires like this are nothing hew; they have been around for over 100 years. They are useful in niche applications, like earth-moving machinery and whatnot. Other than that, airless tires are rubbish and will not…
I have airless tires on my bicycle. They are slightly firmer than regular tires, but the trade-off for knowing I will literally never get a puncture is more than worth it.
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.
I haven't done too much long distance driving since COVID hit but I remember seeing shed retreads last time I was on the interstate. I always thought it was amazing that semis could get away with shedding them and driving away leaving at the least trash on the side of the road and at worst causing a dangerous accident.
Well, they don't really "get away" with shedding them. It's the equivalent of a blowout. Part of the reason they have such a bad reputation among semi mechanics.
