This summer, Hankook Tyre UK will exhibit its growing range of truck, bus and van tyres, including the new Laufenn truck tyre range, at the Commercial Vehicle Show. The UK’s largest and most comprehensive road transport and commercial vehicle event will take place between 31 August and 2 September; Hankook can be found in Hall 5, at stand 5B50.
April’s launch of Bridgestone’s quietest bus and coach tyre ever made followed 18 months of internal testing with its biggest fleet customer. The tyre is in part a product of a lengthy development project with Stagecoach, whose Manchester city centre fleet of green vehicles became the first in Europe to operate on the product. The U-AP 002 reduces rolling resistance, extends mileage, and reduces fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and total cost of ownership according to Bridgestone’s testing against its predecessor in size 275/70 R22.5. The tyre was developed to fulfil the requirements of an electric and hybrid bus fleet, a quickly growing target market.
The UK is set to have the largest electric bus fleet in Europe by 2024, with the number of buses projected to grow by close to 180 per cent from approximately 1,000 to 2,800 vehicles, according to forecasts by Accuracy, the global independent advisory firm.
Poland currently has the second-largest fleet of Zero Emission (ZE) buses in Europe with around 800 ZE buses. The Netherlands and Italy have the third and fourth largest fleets with around 600 buses each. Germany only has 550 in its urban fleet, the fifth largest in Europe. France is currently in sixth place with around 500, around half the number of ZE buses in the UK currently.
The Hankook Smart Touring AL22 is specifically designed for bus and coach applications, and Hankook Tire & Technology is selling the tyre in all major global markets. After its launch in Europe, North America and the Middle East, Hankook is now introducing the Smart Touring AL22 in Asia.
As of 1 May, Michelin is offering a range of electric bus tyres that can also be adapted for use on conventional vehicles. Although it developed the Michelin X Incity EV Z for electric vehicles, the tyre maker says the range is “especially efficient when used on traditional buses.”
Giti Tire has updated its Giti GAU867v1 all-position urban bus tyre range. The manufacturer’s developed tyre is particularly targeting the growing electric bus market. It is manufactured to handle higher load and improve wear resistance. Giti has also added a new size to the range in the 265/70R19.5 143/141 J. The existing 275/70R22.5 size now has an updated load index of 152/148 J.
There’s a new flagship Bridgestone tyre in the city bus segment, and it’s called the U-AP 002. Bridgestone says it designed this successor to the U-AP 001 to lower fuel consumption and exhaust emissions in congested urban areas through decreased rolling resistance. What’s more, by increasing tyre life through enhanced durability, the result is a tyre enabling a reduced total cost of ownership.
McGill’s Buses has extended its 19-year relationship with Michelin, signing a new Effitires contract with the Michelin Services and Solutions team to cover its entire fleet of single and double deck buses. At the end of last year McGill’s acquired Xplore Dundee from National Express, making it the UK’s largest independent bus operator – running 650 vehicles from depots across Scotland and employing 1,200 members of staff. Michelin has been supplying and managing the business’s tyres since 2002.
The eight-year campaign to drive age-compromised tyres from UK roads reached its conclusion today, with amendments to Construction and Use Regulations now prohibiting the use of tyres more than ten years old on the front steered axles of lorries, buses, coaches or on any minibus single wheel axle.
Less than two weeks before the new 10-year-old tyre ban takes effect and two weeks after DVSA updated its definition of the rules, the Department for Transport (DfT) has released new guidance on how to understand the legislation as well as a summary of the corresponding penalties.
Continental is currently testing prototype tyres for electric buses at its Contidrom proving ground in northern Germany. These prototypes, developed built by the tyre maker’s Prototyping department in Hanover-Stöcken and featuring hand-carved tread patterns, are the fruit of joint work with vehicle manufacturer VDL Bus & Coach. The partners’ aim is to reduce the time taken to complete the tyre development cycle, which currently takes three to five years from initial prototype to volume production.
On 26 October 2020, The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 statutory instrument was made. Three days later it was laid before Parliament. It comes into force on 1 February 2021. As a result, 10 year-old and older commercial vehicle tyres will be illegal in the UK from the 1 February 2021. And therefore, the Tyred campaign to ban old and dangerous tyres led by Frances Molloy has achieved a key goal.
Twenty Wrightbus hydrogen double-decker buses have been ordered by Birmingham City Council as part of its Clean Air Hydrogen Bus Pilot. The buses will be added to the National Express West Midlands fleet and will operate from April 2021. The city already has 29 battery-electric double-decker buses in circulation and this order represents the council’s latest move to drive down emissions.
Giti Tire has extended its Giti GAU867v1 all-position tyre range to size 215/75R17.5. The tyre is suitable for small ‘stop-start’ city buses and 7.5 tonne delivery vehicles within the growth market of urban transportation. The tyre replaces the established Giti GAR820 in this size.
Aeolus has launched its new NEO Urban D bus tyre in size 275/70R22.5. The tyre has been specially developed for the drive axle. Jeroen Vos, Aeolus product manager comments that the new addition “allows us to offer a complete range of tyres for city buses, in a variety of sizes and patterns.” The tyre is available in much of Western Europe via Heuver, which has distributed the brand since 2004.
Bridgestone
Oast House Archive; CC-BY-SA 2.0
DfT
Mike; Pexels
Wrightbus
Giti Tire
Aeolus