Bridgestone Corporation will supply solar car tyres to 32 teams participating in the 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC), for which Bridgestone is the naming rights sponsor. The narrow, wide diameter tyres utilise Bridgestone’s ‘Ecopia with ologic’ fuel-efficient tyre technology.
In addition to its latest line-up of Bridgestone and Firestone tyres, Bridgestone intends to display its latest tech solutions at the 68th annual International Motor Show (IAA). The company states that the following solutions will be showcased at the Frankfurt fair in September:
Bridgestone stand in Geneva offered visitors a close-up view of the revolutionary Ecopia EP500 ologic tyre, a product it exclusively supplies for the BMW i3 electric car. Bridgestone’s ologic technology, first applied with BMW, capitalizes on the synergies of a large tyre diameter and narrow tread design to provide aerodynamics and rolling resistance efficiencies. Bridgestone […]
As the first brand to achieve passenger car tyre double-A grading on both the European and the Japanese tyre labels with the EP001S, Bridgestone’s Ecopia product range must be considered one of the leading eco tyre ranges in the current, post-labelling era. More noticeably, in terms of the shape of the product at least, Bridgestone’s EP500 “ologic” large and narrow tyre is a signifier that more radical product design decisions are making it to production. While the terminology for tyres designed to be eco-friendly is not exactly fixed, with definitions subject to subtle variations depending on the manufacturer, the presence of a rolling resistance A or B-grade on both major tyre labels to use this measurement seems a fair way to define an eco tyre. Yet for premium brands, the label grades can only be one part of the picture, as the end user is likely to be more discerning about their product choice, having paid generally a higher price for the product.
Pirelli received one, and so has Bridgestone: The tyre maker is the new owner of a BMW Supplier Innovation Award 2014. Bridgestone was awarded in the ‘Efficient Dynamics’ category in recognition of the ologic technology it developed for the BMW i3. The honour was presented to Bridgestone Europe’s CEO and president, Franco Annunziato, by Gerhard Kurz, BMW’s senior vice-president Purchasing Driving Dynamics, at an official ceremony in Amsterdam on 1 October.
Bridgestone has put its money where its mouth is by adding a number of all-electric BMW i3 vehicles to the car pool attached to its European headquarters near Brussels, and by equipping the headquarters site with recharging points. The tyre maker says the presence of electric vehicles in its fleet underlines its faith in the concept of sustainable mobility.
BMW UK says the new electric i3 electric “defines the car of tomorrow”, a sizable claim backed up by exclusive tyre supplier Bridgestone, who describes the i3 as representing a “milestone in automotive history”. The tyres designed specifically for fitment on the i3 also required, says Bridgestone, the adoption of an entirely new concept. The answer was something it calls ‘ologic technology’.
With Bridgestone claiming to ‘lead the way in quality, technologically innovative goods,’ it is unsurprising to hear of the brand’s significant advances in the area of sustainability and ‘green tyres.’ Bridgestone used the Geneva Motor Show 2013 as a platform to announce the successful development of the new ‘ologic technology tyre’ as large and narrow concept. The launch of the ologic is one of Bridgestone’s initiatives to achieve the goal of ‘contributing to globally agreed target (50 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions)” defined for the group’s efforts toward reducing CO2 emissions in its long-term environmental vision.
