The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (hereinafter referred to as Goodyear) has unveiled a demo tire made with 90% sustainable materials.

The demo tire with 90% sustainable materials announced by Goodyear has passed all regulatory tests required for public road use, along with Goodyear's internal tests.

Testing has also proven that this tire has lower rolling resistance compared to a reference tire made with conventional materials. Lower rolling resistance indicates potential contributions to improved fuel efficiency and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

Looking at the sustainable materials actually employed, for example, the carbon black compounded to reinforce the tire and improve its lifespan, which in conventional products has been made by burning various petroleum products, is characterized in this tire by four types of carbon black made from methane, carbon dioxide, plant-derived oils, and pyrolysis oil from used tires.

These carbon black technologies aim to reduce carbon emissions, improve recyclability, and achieve certain performance levels while using bio-based carbon.

The soybean oil used in this tire helps maintain the flexibility of the compound even in extreme temperature changes, while also contributing to Goodyear's reduction in the use of petroleum-based products. Furthermore, while nearly 100% of soybean protein is used for food and animal feed, there is a considerable surplus of oil, making its diversion for industrial use a way to leverage this excess.

Goodyear is already progressing with this transition to sustainable materials, currently using soybean oil in eight product lines and some racing tires.

As Chris Helsel, Senior Vice President, Global Operations & CTO, stated, "Goodyear continues to make steady progress toward our goal of being the first in the industry to launch tires made with 100% sustainable materials by 2030." Accordingly, the company plans to begin mass production and sales of tires with 70% sustainable materials, the successful development of which was announced in January of the previous year, in 2023.