Ewan has been editor of Retreading Business since 2006 and of Tyre & Rubber Recycling since the magazine was founded. During this period he has become an expert on the global tyre recycling sector. He has many years' experience as an automotive journalist including a period at Tyres & Accessories.
Savings with Bridgestone Duravis and Ecopia Tyres
Tyre labelling has been around for some time now, yet even fleet operators seem to still buy tyres on the cost to buy rather than cost to use.
Coventry University Validates Bridgestone Savings
The purchase of tyres on cost tends to drive buyers to lower-rated tyres, and that, according to Bridgestone, costs them a lot of money every year.
Bridgestone and Coventry University ran an exercise to calculate the savings that would be realised in regional and long-haul fleets switched from budget, class D tyres to Bridgestone Duravis (EU Label: B) or Ecopia (EU Label: A).
Both brands have been designed to achieve lower rolling road coefficients, which means they offer reduced energy loss, fuel consumption and CO2 output.
The research suggested that by switching from Class D tyres to Ecopia tyres, long haul fleets could save as much as 31 per cent in CO2 emissions. On regional fleets, the CO2 could be reduced by up to 33 per cent by using Duravis tyres.
In fuel terms, Duravis could save the average fleet between 650 and 950 litres of fuel, and Ecopia between 1,100 and 1,600 litres of fuel. This translates into average fuel savings, per vehicle, of between £1,300 and £1,900 on Duravis and between £2,200 and £3,200 on Ecopia tyres.