Yokohama Rubber has begun production and sales of HLC (high load capacity) tires to meet the needs of heavy-duty passenger cars such as EVs and hybrid cars with high-capacity batteries, as well as large SUVs. Yokohama Rubber will also develop products for the replacement market in line with market needs.
In response to the increase in the number of heavy-duty passenger cars, for which conventional XL (extra load) standard tires have difficulty maintaining high load capacity and performance characteristics, HLC tires were established as a new tire size in the passenger car tire category of ETRTO standards with a higher load capacity than conventional XL tires.
Yokohama says qualities include:
- Higher air pressure and load capacity than standard specifications;
- Tire and rim standards established by the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organization;
- The load capacity of every single wheel. The air pressure of each tire is 290 kPa.
Yokohama said an HLC tire requires advanced technology to ensure quietness and handling stability while maintaining high load durability. Through repeated simulations of failures caused by high loads, Yokohama Rubber developed a dedicated profile for HLC tires that achieves a balance between load durability and other performance characteristics, with less heat generation and strain under high loads than standard tires.
