Fun fact, did you know that one of the most polluting parts of a car isn’t just restricted to its tailpipes? Rather, it’s those rubber doughnuts that your car rolls around with… Yep, the tyres. Some studies have even noted that tyres produce 2,000x more particle pollution than exhausts! With that in mind, it’s become clear to the world’s tyre makers to produce more sustainable, eco-friendlier tyres.
Goodyear, with more than 120 years of innovation under its belt, has since taken the lead in a pursuit to make tyres as eco-friendly as they can be. Recently, it showcased the Eagle GO, and while it’s only a concept, for now, it’s mightily impressive. The tread compound for these earth-friendly tyres alone is nearly made from all-sustainable materials. That includes using sunflower oils, pine tree skins, and rice husks.
Putting Nature Back Into Your Tyres
To provide a suitable benchmark for Goodyear’s new Eagle GO tyres, they’ve partnered up with the folks at Citroen. And, fitting a set of Eagle GO rubber on the adorably capable Citroen Oli, a cheap and funky retro-futuristic EV. But anyways, back to the tyres… Not only are they made in sustainable means using natural materials. But, they also contain recycled products and materials, as well.
And, Goodyear’s promising to embed these over time into their conventional tyres, too. In the near future, sunflower oils and pine tree resins will gradually replace petroleum-based oils. In addition, Goodyear will soon transition to using natural rubber, and rice husk ash silica to curb excess landfill waste. Plus, Goodyear aims to make the Eagle GO tyres reusable and could be renewed twice in its lifespan. Thus, potentially extending its usable lifecycle to 500,000km!
