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© 2022 AFPManufacturers getting to grips with airless tires
By Taimaz SZIRNIKS COLMAR-BERG, Luxembourg©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© 2022 AFP
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Tom San
They're still ugly.
Desert Tortoise
Beauty is as beauty does. For a time when there were still some new homes being built around where I live we called one street "Puncture Place" and stayed off it. It seemed every time we used that street we would end up with a flat tire. Plus having to drag the compressor out every two weeks or so to air up tires is a chore.
FizzBit
Airless tires on a test track..LOL
Try an average road in Japan where the asphalt pot holes are getting bigger and more frequent as the government MUST have increased the weight trucks can legally haul. Anyone else notice those double semi-trucks on the highways?
commanteer
And the movement to sustainable energy from coal has put all those coal miners out of work too. Not to mention that the stop-smoking campaign has put all those people out of business too. It's called progress.
Tom San
Those tires are pretty ugly.
Looks like they belong on a lunar rover.
Hiro
@Mark, while dozens of countries who relies on the rubber industry will go without work you mean. The funny thing is that whenever one market try to replace the other, it usually cause a massive economic breakdown in a lot of poor countries.
divinda
Test track conditions are usually very different than real world. I'd be curious how the waffle design performs in rain or even puddles. Or snow. Looks like they'd get bogged down pretty bad in some mud too.
I imagine they will need an outer wall/layer, but the see-through waffle does look neat.
Mark
Good news for all involved, from rubber trees to consumers. The key will be the PRICE! if makers can bring it close to the current cost of regular tires that it the time when it will take off like wild fire.
Maintenance free and recyclable is a win win situation.