The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had a story today about a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy dedicated to the development of more fuel-efficient truck and bus tires. The project brings together PPG Industries and Bridgestone Americas and involves PPG’s new Agilon performance silica, which can reduce tread rolling resistance and thereby improve fuel economy, according to PPG. The DOE is providing $1.25 million to the development project, which aims to improve the fuel efficiency of large tires by 4% to 6%, while also improving traction and tread life. The prototype tires should be developed in about three years, according to PPG.
Research and development for the project is being conducted at PPG’s research center in Monroeville, Pennsylvania and at Bridgestone’s technical headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Agilon is produced at PPG’s plant in the Delfzijl, Netherlands, where capacity is being increased this year. Last month, PPG announced it also planned to add capacity to its silica plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The project will add 10,000 tons of capacity in the second half of 2016.
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