Continental believes that sustainability is a license to operate and an opportunity to differentiate. The company announced this during the Continental TechTalk “Sustainability & E-Mobility”.
The Hanover-based tyre company Continental Tires aims to go 100% sustainable latest by 2050, it noted during the tech talk.
The company further added that in addition to being fully sustainable, it plans to go 100% carbon neutral in the supply and value chain and source 100% of the materials responsible by 2050.
Additionally, these tyres are currently made up of 37% renewable materials, and in the near future, it aims to take the number up to 57%.
In its intra-logistics vehicle division, the company noted that its latest e-forklift tyres are made of 61% renewable materials. It aims to add 10% more renewable materials for these tyres in the near future.
Further, by 2030, it aims to use 100% natural rubber for its tyres across all segments. For this, the company started with a pilot project GIZ, in 2018 to source natural rubber responsibly, under which 400 farmers were benefitted, it noted. At present, the partnership has been extended to 2024 to help about 4,000 farmers.
Furthermore, the tyre company is also reusing PET bottles as a raw material for its products with the ContiRe.Tex technology. This is a step towards achieving its goals by 2050, it noted.
It added that out of one million PET bottles disposed of every minute, only half of them get recycled. To reduce this, the company started with the technology; however, it noted that the bottles are not taken out of a circular system.
According to Continental, at present, each of the tyres produced by the company uses an average of nine to ten recycled bottles.
Opportunities With New Mobility
The Hanover-based firm noted that the transition towards e-mobility has had an immense effect on the tyres as the torque and the weight of the vehicles have increased as well as the size of the tyres.
The increase in the size of tyres helps in carrying more load while also improving the rolling resistance, which is very important in an EV to increase its range, the company added.
It stated that in 2012 Continental had nearly 20 homologations for its tyres which by 2019 had increased to 100, and currently, it has around 300 homologations.
Going further, the company predicts that the trend for lower rolling resistance tyres will remain for a while, after which it will vanish. However, the robustness of the tyres will remain an important aspect for times to come.
Also Read:
Continental Puts Forward Future Product Strategy At 2022 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting