The company claims its latest product will prove of immense benefit to the vehicle logistics industry.

Hankook was contacted by a senior fleet engineer for a major vehicle logistics company, who was looking for a solution to a tyre-related problem. Like most logistics companies operating in Europe, his fleet was fitted with 295/60R22.5 tyres on the three trailer axles in order to reduce vehicle height, which aids loading and unloading, as well as making the vehicle more stable.

These tyres have a load/speed index of 150/147K, which equates to 3,350kgs per tyre or, across the three axles, a maximum load carrying capacity of 20,100kgs. So far so good, but the weight of vehicles being transported by vehicle logistics companies has been steadily rising as people are demanding larger vehicles with more sophisticated systems.

The design weight of the axles on the trailers is 7,100kgs and, with the current 295/60R22.5 tyre rated at 3,350kgs (6,700kgs per axle), there is a potential extra load carrying capacity of 400kgs per axle, or 1,200kgs per trailer. The question asked of Hankook was whether it was possible to design a tyre of the same size, capable of carrying the extra load?

Hankook’s R&D engineers accepted the challenge and came up with the Hankook 295/60R22.5 AL02. This new tyre is dual marked 150/147K (152J), allowing it to carry 3,550kgs up to the maximum permitted speed of 62 mph (100 km/hr) when fitted to a 9x 22.5-inch wheel. This allows a load of 7,100kgs per axle, or the maximum increased trailer payload of 1,200kgs.