Rolling out the old: Are air-filled tyres soon to be a thing of the past?

Airless, or non-pneumatic tyres have been known for years and are already used on slow moving vehicles. However, they have yet to be rolled out onto road vehicles. But, this could be changing sooner than we think according to this BBC article, and flat tyres could become a thing of the past. 

Airless tyres have the obvious advantage of not needing to be replaced as frequently, eliminating the need to maintain the air pressure and, importantly, being puncture-proof. Instead of being filled with air, airless tyres comprise a mesh/web structure, allowing you to 'look through' the tyre.

There may also be other advantages of swapping to airless tyres. According to the Guardian, recent tests have shown that the level of toxic particles from tyre wear is almost 2,000 times more than from exhausts; and the amount is only set to increase as we transition from conventional internal combustion vehicles to electric vehicles. Electric vehicles weigh on average more than their petrol or diesel counterparts, largely due to the weight of the batteries that power them; the increased weight results in more wear on the tyres and hence more pollution. Airless tyres may then be the obvious solution, as they are more suited to increasingly heavier vehicles, due to the mesh/webbed structure allowing a greater load to be carried with a more compliant feel than in an air tyre, (source: BBC), and can be made from materials such as high-strength resin embedded with fiberglass and composite rubber, which release less pollutant particles compared to conventional tyres. 

The move to electric vehicles, car sharing and ride hailing are driving change in the wheels that move them and the continuous improvements in 3D printing may soon allow for airless tyres to be rapidly produced at large scales. The innovation around airless tyres can be seen in patent filings, over 300 applications directed towards non-pneumatic tyres have been published by the European Patent Office since 2018. Manufacturers are investing heavily in R&D into the next generation of tyre, the race is on to bring them to market!