Tesla is reportedly in talks with tire giant Michelin to use their latest airless tire technology in the former’s electric vehicle lineup.
Airless tires have been around for a long time, but they have yet to make their way into cars in any meaningful volume.
They offer the obvious advantage of not losing air, which is a major benefit in terms of reliability.
Depending on the design, they can also be lighter and more efficient, but their biggest impact is expected to be environmental by significantly reducing tire scraps.
French tire giant Michelin has been amongst the tire manufacturers looking to bring airless tires into passenger cars.
Not a Tesla app now reports that Michelin confirmed that it is in talks with Tesla to test its airless Uptis tires:
Michelin, one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers, recently confirmed in an interview with its CEO Florent Menegaux that it has begun talks about testing its Uptis airless tire technology on Tesla vehicles.
Michelin had previously tested its airless tires on the Chevy Bolt EV. When announcing the tests back in 2019, the manufacturer said that it hoped to bring the technology into consumer vehicles by 2024.
Top comment by Damon Ekstrom
It's always disheartening when you hear about "new" technology that has been around for years, only now coming to fruition. I guess it's better late than never, but EVs serve as a perfect example of tech that has been around forever, but only recently started making waves within the country (USA).
If every country had went all in on electric vehicles decades ago, air pollution would've reached record lows. We all saw how much of a positive impact that the pandemic lockdown had on air quality (weird statement, I know), and that stemmed from only a short amount of time.
It just goes to show how oil tycoons have had politicians within their back pockets for generations.
In addition to improving reliability and waste, the airless tire structure could allow for the construction of longer-lasting threads and even replaceable tire surfaces.
Electrek’s Take
One of the main downsides of electric vehicles is that they tend to be heavier. When you combine that with their high torque and fast acceleration, it can accelerate tire wear.
If you can have new tire technologies that enable better structural integrety or replaceable tire surfaces, you can improve the already positive impact that EVs have on the environment.
Airless and self-healing tires are both interesting technology for that.
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