CEVT and The Tyre Collective test tyre wears for the first time in a car

Tyre Wear from The Tyre Collective

We all know tyres wear down but rarely stop to consider where it all goes. CEVT has teamed up with The Tyre Collective, a London based clean-tech company spearheading the capture and monitoring of tyre wears, to find a solution for handling tyre wear at the source.

Being an Innovation center, sustainability is high up on our list. The topic of sustainability goes far beyond the reduction of CO2 emissions, one of the biggest problems within mobility industry right now is the pollution connected to tyre wear, says Per-Erik Kronqvist Head of Wheels & Suspension at CEVT.

He continues, thanks to electrification of the vehicle, exhaust emissions will drastically reduce but tyre wear is projected to increase due to the added battery weight and torque. Therefore, it is of most importance to find a solution that can capture the tyre wear at the source if we want to continue on the path to achieve zero emissions. 

Today, over a million tons of tyre particles are produced annually in Europe alone, from vehicles accelerating, braking and cornering. It is the second largest microplastic pollutant in our oceans and a stealthy source of air pollution. This is a rapidly developing field. Most recently tyre wear has been linked to the mass die off of salmon on the US west coast. With the help of The Tyre Collective solution the tyre wear can be collected and reused instead of polluting the water and the air. 

Growing up in London I was very aware of the pollution all around us. I think for me its where it all started. At The Tyre Collective, we are working on solutions to save our air from tire-wear. Right now, we are in the process, together with CEVT, to test first on-vehicle device to capture tyre wear at source. Our patent-pending technology uses electrostatics and airflow to attract tyre particles. Once captured, these particles are processed and can be upcycled in new tyre production, creating a closed-loop system says Hugo Richardson at The Tyre Collective.

For four weeks the solution will be tested on the Swedish roads in real live conditions. 

We hope to validate what we already know, says Siobhan Anderson Co-founder, CSO at The Tyre Collective.