etyres Green Policy suggestions to reduce the impact of motoring on the environment

etyres Green Policy suggestions to reduce the impact of motoring on the environment

The environmental damage caused by cars in the UK is huge and unless we all react without delay the long term effects will be disastrous. It is inevitable that our government will seek to reduce the demand for fuel by raising fuel tax so the cost of motoring is certain to keep heading skywards. Fortunately there are some simple things relating to tyres that you can do to save money on fuel costs. Follow these tips to help make your car go further between fills at the petrol pump.

Inflate tyres correctly

Keeping the tyres correctly inflated is vital. Tyres that are low on air pressure have greater rolling resistance. That means your car’s engine works harder, using more fuel.

 
Correct tyre pressures will also ensure safer, more secure handling and better tyre life. Check your tyre pressures once a week. Make sure that they are cold when you do this.

You can find the correct tyre pressures for your vehicle in the owner’s handbook and on the tyre placard (normally found on the inside of the glove box door, on the driver’s door opening or fuel filler flap). These are the minimum tyre pressures.

Setting the pressures slightly higher will normally improve fuel economy. However do not deviate greatly from the manufacturer’s recommended pressure for your tyres. We estimate that a 12.5% deterioration in rolling resistance efficiency would be caused by allowing a tyre with a correct pressure of 35 psi to reduce to 28 psi.

 

Use energy saving tyres where possible

Most major tyre manufacturers now produce a range of low resistance tyres. These tyres are primarily designed to save fuel but the other important effect is the resulting reduction in CO2 emissions.

The effect of using these tyres is significant. For a driver with an annual mileage of 25,000 miles and a fuel consumption of 35 mpg the reduction in emissions would be almost half a ton of CO2.  (See the case study at the end of this article.)

 

Obtain the maximum mileage from your tyres

Each year hundreds of thousands, if not millions of tyres are changed prematurely. An entire industry revolves around selling “part worn” tyres! The reason for this is partly entirely genuine and partly the result of downright fraud by unscrupulous tyre retailers. The impact on the environment is, however, just the same; more waste tyres than necessary.

If a car is booked in for a routine service and the Service Manager notices that the tyres are within a few thousand miles of being worn out he will, quite properly, recommend that they are changed. His job is to make sure that the car is safe and legal until the next service. However this obviously means that the tyres are changed a few thousand mile too soon. This factor costs motorists millions of pounds every year and has a big impact on environmental pollution due to the unnecessary number of waste tyres.

The other factor involved in the premature changing of tyres is the illegal “overselling” by unscrupulous tyre retailers. Many large chains have a management structure that places sales pressure on branch managers to sell tyres wherever possible, regardless of whether or not they are needed. This causes massive unnecessary cost to motorists and huge environmental damage.

etyres has a completely different structure and we frequently refund payment to customers who have ordered and paid for tyres that are found not to be needed. On literally hundreds of occasions each year our local colleagues arrive to fit four tyres that our Customer has ordered and paid for, only to find that only two tyres are needed. It is always a pleasure to refund half the cost. We are also pleased to help in keeping the number of waste tyres to a minimum with the resulting reduction in environmental damage.

 

Check the wheel alignment

Your car will also be more energy efficient if the wheel alignment is correctly set and the brakes aren’t dragging. Again it’s a case of less rolling resistance. etyres recommends that the best place for alignment is the vehicle manufacturer’s main dealer. However our tyre fitters will check your old tyres for signs of abnormal tyre wear and advise accordingly.

 

Drive economically

• Driving techniques and a little planning can make a big difference to how much fuel you use and the resulting CO2 emissions and not least the wear on your tyres.
• Drive smoothly, look ahead in traffic and try to maintain a steady speed – the more you push your accelerator, the more petrol you’ll use, the more CO2 you will pump out and the more you will wear out your tyres.
• Use the gearbox sensibly – driving in a lower gear than necessary and revving the engine hard wastes fuel, so change up through the gears as soon as practical, but not so the engine labours.
• If you drive an automatic, ease back slightly on the accelerator once the car has gained sufficient speed – the automatic gearbox will shift up through the gears more quickly.
• Avoid peak hour and other heavy traffic where possible – see if you can reschedule your trip to an earlier or later time, or use an alternative route to avoid congestion. However, keep your mileage to a minimum to avoid unnecessary emissions and wear on your tyres.
• Avoid engine idling for long periods, where possible – if you expect a lengthy delay switch off the engine. This is obviously a very efficient way to keep emissions low!

Driving economically

You’ll use less fuel, reduce CO2 emissions and save wear on your tyres.

Sensible driving techniques also help reduce wear and tear on your car’s brakes, tyres and the other mechanical parts. So you’ll save money on running costs for your vehicle as well as keeping emissions as low as possible.

 

Care for your car and save

Proper servicing and maintenance of your car will help to ensure its longevity and reliability. It will also help to keep it running at its most efficient: that means less fuel use and less air pollution.
To care for your car, it’s important to:

Use your car less

The less you use the car, the less fuel used. So it’s worth considering alternatives such as public transport, car pooling, walking or riding a bike. Ask yourself if the trip is really necessary. If you must use your car, try to combine a few smaller trips into one. A cold engine is less fuel-efficient and emits more pollutants than a warm engine, so several shorter trips will use more fuel than one longer trip.

Also, if you have more than one car, save fuel and use the smaller more fuel efficient one, when practical.

 

Case Study

’Green’ tyres offer dramatic fuel savings for high mileage pharmaceutical fleet.

ONE of the UK’s leading companies has estimated it could cut almost £200,000 a year off its car fleet fuel bill by switching to energy-saving tyres.

Pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer carried out parallel tests on its 1,300-strong fleet comparing Michelin Energy tyres to the tyres originally fitted to two cars. A Nissan Primera covering more than 70,000 miles and a Volvo V40 SE running for 20,000 miles were fitted with the Energy tyre. The test vehicles delivered a fuel consumption improvement of 7.7% against one brand and 3.7% against the other.

Projections show that with 80% of Bayer’s fleet of 1,300 vehicles eligible for Michelin tyres the potential saving would be nearly £190,000.

Tread wear recordings taken at the same time also showed the Michelin Energy tyre gave more than 25% more mileage, potentially saving Bayer a further £41,000 a year and reducing purchases by nearly 700 tyres.

Fleet administrator Andy Regan said: "Our tests showed that Michelin Energy gave a substantial fuel saving, an equally impressive increase in mileage and consequent saving in tyre purchases."

The Newbury-based company operates petrol and diesel models running on a four-year/60,000-mile and four-year/90,000-mile lifespan respectively.