Tom Hobbs, who lives near Bath, saw his fuel consumption decrease from 6.5mpg to 6mpg overnight, having switched from regrooved Michelin tyres to a set of brand new tyres.
Working solely for CRW Powderline, Tom’s vehicle operates at 44 tonnes in conjunction with bulk powder tankers. The nature of the work means it runs in and out of quarries on regular routes, often between Bath and Stoke-on-Trent. It also rarely sets off empty and the engine is always kept running as it drives a PTO to pump the powder off at each delivery point.
“Some people baulk when they hear my average fuel consumption, but it’s a very powerful truck and it works incredibly hard,” explains Tom. “I keep a close eye on the consumption on every leg, so when it suddenly dropped by 0.5mpg my first reaction was that I’d obviously been battling a very strong head wind for most of the journey. When the figure remained the same on the return trip, and in the days and weeks that followed, I began to think there was something wrong with the truck.
“It was only after consulting CRW Powderline’s Fleet Engineer and the local Michelin representative that I realised what a powerful effect using regrooved tyres has on fuel economy,” he adds.
Nearly all Michelin new and RemiX truck tyres are suitable for regrooving, and Tom’s experience mirrored Michelin’s own in-depth trials which have found that regrooving helps to extend a tyre’s most fuel efficient state and can reduce fuel consumption, in comparison with a new tyre, by as much as 10 per cent. This is made possible since a tyre’s rolling resistance gradually reduces as the tread depth wears down, with the most fuel efficient state being the last few millimetres of tread – approximately the same depth to which most Michelin truck tyres are regrooved to.
Rolling resistance is a physical force which accounts for around a third of the fuel a commercial vehicle uses. Under the weight of a truck moving on an uneven road surface the shape of a tyre distorts, which makes it harder for the tyre to roll. The physical phenomenon is more pronounced the deeper the rubber is on a tyre, giving brand new tyres the highest rolling resistance of all, and making it beneficial for operators to prolong the life of their tyres through regrooving. Another benefit of regrooving is that it makes use of all of the available tread in a tyre so it spends more time in service on the road.
CRW Powderline has a pence per kilometre contract with Michelin whereby it supplies and manages the tyres for its own fleet and those of the owner-drivers it employs.
