Orange Oil Just the Start for Tyres Worldwide

With environmental responsibility and carbon footprints issues gaining more importance in the way world does business, the Managing Director of a specialist tyre brand in Australia believes his company has taken an enormous first step likely to influence all tyre manufacturers around the planet.

Mr. Tatsuya (Tim) Murata Managing Director of Yokohama Tyre (Australia), says the inclusion of orange oil at a nano particle level to replace some petroleum-based oil content in its BluEarth AE01 eco-tyre is just the beginning.

In his view, it represents a watershed moment in the global tyre sector and is a source of company pride in the competitive Australian market.

"By including orange all in this new eco-tyre, we've achieved not just the introduction of a genuine eco focused tyre, we are meeting strong performance expectations of the consumer market for more tyre malleability with increased lifespan, said Mr. Murata.

"We are pleased to be using oilthat is a by-product from the food processing sector and infusing this at a nano level into the tyre to give us these two qualities which are normally mutually exclusive.

"The amount of orange oil in these tyres is not a huge quantity – for scientific reasons the amount used is optimised to maximise the safety and performance factors we set out to achieve.

"As the Managing Director of the Australian arm of the global Yokohama tyre brand that engineered this tyre solution, the BluEarth AE01 is a massive achievement by our company and it does challenge the entire industry to focus on developing more eco-friendly and carbon conscious tyre solutions.

"Across all business sectors, products and services of all persuasions are being developed specifically to reduce carbon footprint for businesses, particularly in countries where carbon credit systems are highly influential.

"Yet to us at Yokohama it means even more than that. Fundamentally, what we're doing as a tyre manufacturer is proving that with the right R&D platform tyres can now be made more eco-friendly.

"Business owners and fleet managers around Australia can now operate knowing that even their tyres have reduced petroleum oil content and improved grip, they are saving fuel and reducing the frequency at which they need to replace tyres.

“Our eco-tyre initiatives are a win-win situation right across the board.”

Combining eco-friendly orange oil (derived from orange peel) and inert silica ensures these tyres nearly 10% lighter, which is where fuel usage is reduced by around 8-10%.

Lower rolling resistance of these tyres sees a vehicle require less power to drive along, therefore using less power and burning less fuel.

In general, Yokohama’s eco-tyre delivers longer than average tyre life, reduced hydroplaning which leads to increased grip in the wet, an average 50 Km extra distance on a standard fuel tank.