Bridgestone ENLITEN Technology hits LCV Sector
Bridgestone has launched its most innovative and sustainable light commercial tyre, Duravis Van, featuring the company’s ENLITEN technology for the first time in a replacement specification tyre for the Australian and New Zealand markets.
According to Bridgestone, ENLITEN technology provides Duravis Van with low-rolling resistance for efficiency, durability for wear life and excellent wet and dry braking performance. This helps to maximise efficiency by minimising downtime and lowering the total cost of ownership.
Duravis Van has been engineered with the evolving needs of the last-mile delivery market as the centre of its development. Using ENLITEN Technology, Duravis Van is EV-ready and is designed, developed, and produced in Europe, ensuring suitability for the increasingly popular European-built light commercial vehicle models.
Director of Sales at Bridgestone Australia, Claudio Sodano, said the introduction of Duravis Van is significant because of ENLITEN technology, and the evolution of the light commercial sector.
“There’s no doubt that the light commercial space is undergoing considerable change. Not only is this part of the market growing, but the emergence of electric vans changes the operational requirements – and that’s why the launch of Duravis Van is so significant.” he said.
“Duravis Van is a really exciting product for us, because it’s not only our most advanced light commercial vehicle tyre ever, but it’s also Australia’s introduction to our ENLITEN technology – which is a design philosophy that will underpin our future product developments across all segments.”
ENLITEN TECHNOLOGY
ENLITEN Technology focusses on three key areas in the development of a new tyre: safety, sustainability, and performance. Through the overarching end-to-end ENLITEN strategy, Bridgestone is using the technology to support decarbonisation efforts in production and the product life cycle through emission reduction, resource efficiency and material circularity, without compromising on safety and performance.
The company said the durability of ENLITEN technology was proven on Australian roads through the recent Bridgestone World Solar Challenge – an event Bridgestone uses as a platform to challenge its sustainable tyre technology in a ‘mobile lab’. Nearly all teams competing in the 2023 event used specially developed ENLITEN equipped tyres for efficiency and durability.
“Each product development has specific objectives for performance. For Duravis Van, these were to maximise the efficiency for light commercial vehicle operators, be durable and have great braking capabilities, while also being a more sustainable choice,” said Sodano.
DURAVIS VAN
Duravis Van enters the Australian market in seven sizes ranging from 195/70R15C to 225/55R17C, covering the majority of European built and designed vans including Ford Transit and E Transit Custom, Mercedes-Benz Vito/eVito and Viano/V-Class, VW Transporter, Renault Master, and LDV V80, eDeliver and Deliver 9. Bridgestone also offers a solution in the 205/65R15C and 225/55R17C sizes, closing a gap in the light commercial vehicle range.
According to Bridgestone, Duravis Van is an ideal fitment for operators seeking a solution that provides performance, safety, reliability and efficiency. The use of ENLITEN technology provides a sustainable choice for businesses invested in reducing their carbon footprint, while reducing the total cost of ownership thanks to a combination of durability and low rolling resistance.
Bridgestone Australia & New Zealand Managing Director, Heath Barclay, believes Duravis Van is the solution to the emerging challenges in the light commercial vehicle sector.
“Fleets face many challenges in lowering their costs, maximising efficiency, reducing CO2 emissions, and overcoming the complexities of the last-mile delivery model. The launch of the Bridgestone Duravis Van tyre is the answer to all of these through lower fuel or energy use, and reduced downtime because of its durability,” he said.
DEVELOPMENT
Bridgestone said the tyre achieved the balance between rolling resistance, performance and durability through the use of its Nano Pro-Tech equipped compound, advanced mixing methods, design of the tread pattern and construction of the tyre.
Compared to the Duravis R660, Duravis Van boasts up to 21 per cent improvement in rolling resistance, delivering excellent fuel economy for ICE vehicles and energy efficiency for electric vehicles, contributing to reduced operating expenses through fuel savings or extended range and increased productivity.
The optimised crown shape of the tyre maximises contact with the road to deliver strong dry braking performance. The advanced symmetrical tread pattern helps reduce road noise while supporting reduced irregular wear thanks to its rib stiffness. The tyre’s sipe design and longitudinal grooves provide excellent water evacuation for wet handling and braking performance.
The sidewall design also features rim protection through an additional 0.8mm circumferential rubber layer to minimise damage caused by curb impacts and help to improve overall wear performance.
Duravis Van’s construction also meets the demands of electric vehicles with a high wear tolerance to counter the increased weight and higher torque of EVs, while the low-rolling resistance supports efficient mileage.
As a sustainable solutions company, Bridgestone is constantly evolving its R&D process to become more efficient and sustainable.
Duravis Van was developed using Bridgestone’s Virtual Tyre Development technology. This means a digital version of an in-development tyre can be created and tested, helping the company to predict how a tyre will perform in different conditions before physically building prototypes. In the development phase, this sustainable approach led to a saving of 38 per cent of raw materials and CO2 emissions, while cutting 20,000 kilometres and 4.2 tonnes of CO2 from outdoor testing.
Duravis Van is available through the national network of Bridgestone Select Tyre & Auto and Bridgestone Service Centre stores, and other tyre retailers.
