Honda and Airless tyres: What’s cooking?

KUALA LUMPUR: We were recently acquainted with the Toyota’s new concept, Fine-Comfort Ride revealed at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show and now a recent report has confirmed that Toyota is experimenting with airless tyres for its hydrogen-powered concept car. In order to reduce the overall weight of electric and fuel-cell vehicles, Toyota is aiming to use airless tyres that are equipped with individual motors in each wheel. This will also help the manufacturer in achieving better performance.

The current weight of the concept can be reduced by up to 5Kg or 30% from each tyre’s weight, to be achieved by 2025. This is the first time that the Japanese automaker will be using airless tyres in the hydrogen-powered concept car, Fine-Comfort Ride, whose testing phase was carried out by Sumitomo Rubber Industries on local mini cars and golf carts. According to Sumitomo, even other automakers are interested in using airless tyres for their electric vehicles.

The primary attraction of airless tyres is for electric vehicles as they improve the efficiency of such vehicles to a great extent. The size of Fine-Comfort Ride is quite big, almost equivalent to a mid-sized crossover and these tyres are handling it quite efficiently. Wako Iwamura, head of the five-year airless-tyre project at Sumitomo Rubber is aiming to have a commercial prototype ready by 2020 and to achieve this, the manufacturer has to gain the confidence of the automakers and the general public that these tyres are safe.

Apart from Sumitomo, there are other tyre manufacturers who are trying their hands on airless tyres which include Michelin’s Tweel - a portmanteau of tyre and wheel - it is currently available for lawnmowers, golf carts, recreational all-terrain vehicles, and construction machinery. However, the technology has to yet prove its worth and potential on mass production cars. Let’s see when we will see these tyres in the production models. But, it is expected that it is at least 5 years far from now.