New Conti Eco Gen 5 Tire Line for Trucks Combines Low Rolling Resistance with High Mileage

Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. Continental has presented the fifth-generation Conti Eco tire line for freight transportation. The new product is geared squarely to the needs of customers in the transport sector and a dynamic regulatory environment, which means it also meets all the requirements of the EU Taxonomy for fleets. The completely newly developed truck tires from Continental allow haulage companies to significantly reduce their fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions in both regional and long-distance operations, and to cut costs. With the new generation of the Conti Eco, the tire manufacturer’s development experts were able to resolve the conflicting goals of optimized rolling resistance and high mileage. The tires are available now in many countries across the EMEA region – in Conti Eco HS 5 form for the tractor unit’s steer axle and Conti Eco HD 5 form for the drive axle.

Continental has been working intensively on the development of the new product line for several years, with extensive testing completed prior to market launch. "We are in no doubt that we are offering our customers the right tire at the right time," says Ferdinand Hoyos, Head of Continental’s Business Area Replacement Tires EMEA. Indeed, rising operating and personnel costs, as well as investment in sustainability and a rapidly changing legal landscape, are among the most frequently cited challenges for fleet operators in Europe. A recent study conducted by Boston Consulting for the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) shows that cost is still the leading decision factor, but that sustainability factors are gaining in importance as a purchasing criterion – in both the OE and replacement business. "Sustainability and cost efficiency have long gone hand in hand at Continental," explains Hoyos. "And interest in this area is now growing all the time across the market, which lends extra weight to our strategy."

With the new, fifth-generation Conti Eco, Continental is reducing its number of tire lines for freight transportation. "Our new tire builds on its successful predecessors – the Conti EcoPlus Gen3+ for long-distance haulage and the Conti EcoRegional Gen3+ for regional transport," explains Hinnerk Kaiser, who is responsible for the development of truck and bus tires at Continental. "The new Conti Eco brings together the best qualities of the Conti EcoPlus and Conti EcoRegional, and elevates them to a new level."

This is made possible by optimized rolling resistance and higher mileage capability – classically conflicting goals in the world of tire development. "In the past, if a tire ran particularly smoothly and therefore needed less drive energy, that might come at the expense of robustness and durability," points out Kaiser. Now the tire developers at Continental concentrate on mileage-neutral measures to improve rolling resistance across all components – in the construction of the casing, the treads and the design of the overall contour and tread. The treads, with their two-layer construction (cap base) and innovative compounds, enable a high mileage and considerable robustness while also optimizing rolling resistance. The road contact compound (cap) allows the developers to focus on mileage and robustness.

The technical performance parameters here are clear. At the steer axle, a thicker under-tread reduces rolling resistance – but it also enables tread compounds with a focus on extending mileage. At the drive axle, the optimized shoulder design with innovative sipe form in the tread shoulder area plays a key role in promoting even tire wear – which also has a positive effect on mileage. In the casing, several compound components and a new bead geometry are tailored to optimizing rolling resistance. These measures combine to produce an up to 12 percent  improvement in rolling resistance and an up to 10 percent increase in mileage over the two predecessor products.

The optimized rolling resistance and high mileage of the new Conti Eco tires have a positive effect on their environmental footprint. "If our product increases the fuel efficiency of a truck and lasts longer, the result is lower CO₂ emissions," says Hinnerk Kaiser. Choosing the right tires is therefore becoming even more important, not least given the emissions-based toll charges for fleet operators in the EU. Replacing the outgoing EcoRegional HS 3+/ HD 3+ with the new Conti Eco HS 5/ HD 5 tires across a fleet of 100 vehicles – which cover around 80,000 km per year in regional use – can save up to € 69.000 and 120 metric tons of CO₂.*)