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The Japanese company has been involved since 2011 in the research and development of airless tires, which are currently called Air Free . The logic behind this idea is to replace the tire's air chamber with a custom-made resin spoke structure. And this will result in no air pressure loss, as well as burping.
But apart from the bumps, the new type of tire will also send the spare wheel that is present in some cars to the "retirement" , as a result of which space will be freed up in the trunk. And this will help slightly to reduce weight and fuel consumption .
Additionally, the resin spokes featured in the Air Free tire offer greater flexibility in the design department and enhanced recyclability over conventional tires.
This new technology from Bridgestone offers other advantages, especially when we talk about those that supply heavy vehicles working in agriculture, mining and construction . As is well known, a flat tire on such vehicles can lead to a reduction in productivity and efficiency. And this is welcomed by professional drivers.
At the same time, the simplification in the structure of the tires allowed to minimize the energy loss from the rolling resistance caused by the repeated changes in the shape of conventional tires.
As a result, these Air Free tires have the same rolling resistance as the Japanese company's conventional eco friendly Ecopia, helping to reduce CO2 emissions.
The prototype of the new type of tires was tested by Toyota in 2016 , placing the specific Bridgestone tires on electric micromobility two-wheelers . However, Toyota did not mention their possible use in the automotive industry.
However, we still don't know when Air Free tires will be available for cars. The only thing that is certain is that Bridgestone is going to put aside all these years of research and development to present a tire for bicycles and micromobility two-wheelers.
We should take for granted that the development of this type of tire will accelerate , in order to be able to make it available on the market as soon as possible for a wide range of vehicles.