The boom in electric cars, the key technology to decarbonise transport, is considered an opportunity to grow by tire manufacturers who, like the French Michelin, want their total production to be made from sustainable materials by 2050, while claiming that more countries incorporate limits on polluting emissions from wheels into their legislation.
Representatives of the French firm underlined, in a meeting with the international press, their commitment to reach that date with all their tires made from 100 percent sustainable materials and thus contribute to the global objective of progressively reducing polluting emissions that The automotive sector has also been marked.
The rolling of the tires, made with more than 200 components such as natural and synthetic rubber, metals, textiles, other recycled tires and carbon to black (blackcarbon) and silica, among others, produces the detachment of polluting microparticles.
A vehicle that travels 27,000 kilometers a year generates, according to the tests of the French manufacturer, polluting particles equivalent to 3.7 kilos, while with its new wheels 1.6.
Greater REGULATION
“If you want to reduce the global impact of tires, everyone has to contribute,” said the director of Innovation of the French group, Cyrille Roget, who encouraged countries like China and the United States to adopt initiatives such as the European one in their legislation. to limit those emissions.
“We would like this regulation to exist throughout the world,” said Roget, who also indicated that his group will comply with European regulations in this regard, while considering “a nightmare that there are different regulations in countries to reduce emissions contaminants”.
Last November, the European Commission presented the new regulations, known as Euro 7, for diesel and gasoline cars, which, among its novelties, include lowering these polluting emissions and setting their maximum levels from 2025 until the sale of vehicles is prohibited in 2035. new combustion engine in the European Union (EU).
“Each country tries to find the rules that best suit its automotive industry,” said Bruno de Feraudy, vice president of that group for first-rate equipment, that is, tires with which a car is equipped when leaving the factory.
De Feraudy also referred to the fact that countries like China “are trying to stay one step ahead of Europe, and even in the United States, which has enacted its IRA legislation to protect its industry, American car manufacturers have gone electric. Everyone is aware that it had to be done.”
“The objective is global for everyone, the threat would consist of not maintaining the rate (of emissions reduction) that has been announced,” said the manager, who explained that in the case of Michelin they can improve these objectives and, if already in 2030 It can happen that its tires contain 40 percent sustainable materials, “that will give us a lot of information about whether we can go faster” in the face of 2050.
STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION
By 2023 the French multinational, which produces tires in 67 factories, is present in 175 countries (including Spain and several in Latin America) and employs 132,000 workers, points to the strategic transformations it foresees for the group in the face of market changes that affect drivers, vehicle manufacturers and the climate crisis.
The wheels of electric cars also represent a challenge for the automotive sector, since their size increases due to the greater weight of the vehicles, which in turn affects fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, while They require a greater load capacity due to the weight of the batteries than combustion vehicles.
This will lead to greater digitalization of production processes, accompanied by the use of artificial intelligence and data processing, the sources added.
For Michelin, the objective is to reach the “factory 4.0”, which combines the use of robots with artificial intelligence, increasing the scale of its transformation and allowing the manufacturer to anticipate production stops, increase this and gain flexibility, in addition to improve the working conditions of the plants. (EFE)
