For more than 10 years, Michelin X One wide single truck tires have offered the trucking industry 4- to 10-percent fuel savings and weight savings of 175 to 200 pounds per axle, said company officials.
Now these tires also add $1,250 to the value of a used truck as an Idle and Fuel Reduction Technology, according to the latest assessment by Truck Blue Book. The value-added designation is exclusive to X One tires not for wide single tires in general.
“X One tires continue to prove their value to drivers and fleets on tens of thousands of trucks and trailers across America,” said Ted Becker, vice president of marketing for Michelin Americas Truck Tires. “The designation by Truck Blue Book, supported by the Used Truck Association, is a clear indication of the growing share these wide single tires are taking in the market and the residual value boost they give to the used trucks in the industry.”
“We strongly considered the factual fuel and weight savings that X One tires provide for a tractor,” said Terry Williams, managing editor for Truck Blue Book. “After that, the decision to make them a value-added component was easy. Truck Blue Book recognizes value where it exists, and X One tires are valuable on used trucks.”
Michelin announced in late 2010 that its X One fuel-efficient truck tire line was enjoying a banner sales year. The line of wide single truck tires – which includes tires for a variety of applications – reached a significant milestone in 2010, hitting the one-million-tire mark since being launched in 2000.
Since 2000, fleets using X One tires have gained up to 10 percent in fuel efficiency, which has saved more than 80 million gallons of fuel and reduced CO2 emissions by 809,000 metric tons, according to Becker. Even for a fleet with just 10 trucks, fitting X One tires can mean a potential savings of 15,000 gallons of fuel per year and a reduction of 150 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year – the equivalent of removing 30 cars from the road.
A 383-page report made available by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2009 found significant improvement in fuel efficiency when wide single tires were used instead of dual tires – 6 percent overall and 10 percent with fully loaded tractor-trailers. More than 700,000 real-world miles were driven by six instrumented tractors and 10 trailers over the course of the four-year test.
