Japanese Tire Maker Plans For Oil Free Tires
Japan’s second biggest tire maker, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd., plans to start selling tires in Japan that have no petrochemical materials by 2013.
The company plans to fight climate change by a medium-term strategy that introduces a tired which uses as little raw material made from oil as possible. At the same time, they want a tire that spins more smoothly to save more fuel than a conventional tire.
Sumitomo Rubber launched tires in June which had petrochemicals that accounted for 3 percent of the raw materials. This compared with 56 percent of its ordinary tires. The remaining 97 percent of tire consists of oil-free materials such as steel wires, vegetable oil, fibers from plant cellulose and natural rubber.
The price of these tires were more than 30 percent higher than an ordinary tire.
"How to produce the remaining 3-percent part from other natural resources but oil is now under development," the spokesman Ryota Senshu said. The remaining additives currently made from petrochemical materials are used to protect tires from aging and for other purposes, he said
The company plans to sell 20,000 units of the 97 percent oil-free tire in the 12 months from June. Senshu said that the companies sales of the tire have so far been in line with the plan.
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