Continental introduced new tire concepts for urban vehicles, trailers and long-haul trucks at IAA 2022
The Conti Urban, a concept tire specially designed for the electrified bus and delivery traffic of the future. The trailer tire prototype, which is based on the Conti EcoPlus HT3+ in dimension 355/50 R 22.5, is already approved for road use and is currently being tested in collaboration with Trailer Dynamics. Finally, The Conti EfficientPro Gen 3+ is Continental’s new and improved version of its long-distance tire, which is especially known in the original equipment business for trucks.
Continental participated in IAA 2022. The German company introduced new tire models addressed to urban vehicles (city buses and last mile delivery vehicles), trailers and long-haul trucks. Let’s start with the Conti Urban, a concept tire specially designed for the electrified bus and delivery traffic of the future. The share of renewable and recycled feedstock in this prototype, which is already approved for road use and could soon enter a testing phase with customers, is almost 50 percent.
Continental at IAA 2022. New trailer tire concept
Continental also premiered a new tire prototype specially designed for a new trailer concept featuring a fully electric drive axle. The German company is the exclusive development partner for this innovative trailer from Trailer Dynamics, which is designed to hybridize truck tractor units by means of a battery-powered trailer and so reduce their CO2 emissions.
The prototype, which is based on the Conti EcoPlus HT3+ in dimension 355/50 R 22.5, is already approved for road use and is currently being tested in collaboration with Trailer Dynamics. Series production is scheduled to begin in 2025. The electrified drive axle of the eMega Liner from Trailer Dynamics instantly transforms the semitrailer tractor with combustion engine into a hybrid vehicle, meaning that the electrified trailer significantly reduces diesel consumption and CO2 emissions – by at least 20 percent according to the manufacturer.
“Our tire prototype for electric trailers represents a whole new tire segment. It possesses the properties of a tire for the drive axle and is designed for the recuperation of braking energy. It also possesses all the properties of a conventional trailer tire for the first and third axle. A real all-rounder in the truest sense of the word, it is specially designed for the hybridization of trucks,” said Klaus Kreipe, who heads Continental Tires’ original equipment business in the EMEA region.
Thinking of long distances…
The Conti EfficientPro Gen 3+ is Continental’s new and improved version of its long-distance tire, which is especially known in the original equipment business for trucks. The focus of further development was on minimizing rolling resistance and, in turn, the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions generated during freight transport. Compared with its predecessor model, the declared rolling resistance of the Conti EfficientPro Gen 3+ for the steering and drive axle in dimension 315/70 R 22.5 is around 9 percent lower. In dimension 385/55 R 22.5, which is designed for the steering axle, the tire has around 7 percent less rolling resistance compared to the declared value of its predecessor.
“We have upgraded the Conti EfficientPro Gen3+ in specific ways so that our customers can further reduce the fuel consumption and, in turn, CO2 emissions of their fleets,” commented Kreipe.
