French postal delivery service La Poste is to fit nearly 40 of its vans with airless tyres, which cannot go flat. This should reduce delays caused by problems with soft or punctured tyres.
The tyre in question is the Michelin Uptis, an airless tyre developed by Michelin partly for professional use. The tyre is intended for users who want to avoid delay and disruption to their operations due to a flat or soft tyre.
20% fewer tyres replaced
The Uptis tyre features a structure that connects the inner and outer sides of the tyre, allowing it to support the weight of the vehicle. Michelin claims that 20% fewer tyres need to be replaced when using Uptis. On the one hand, this concerns tyres that are not repairable (12%). On the other hand, it concerns tyres that have worn irregularly due to incorrect air pressure (8%).
In absolute numbers, Michelin claims that the use of Uptis tyres will reduce the need to replace some 200 million tyres a year. By replacing fewer tyres, Michelin says the Uptis tyre can help reduce the environmental impact of vehicles. Also, the production of the Uptis tyre requires fewer raw materials than a regular tyre. This too reduces waste and environmental impact.
Pilot project with three delivery vans
For the project, La Poste and Michelin are entering into a two-year partnership. Since the end of last month, three La Poste vans have been driving around with the Michelin Uptis tyres as part of a pilot project.
By 2024, the French postal delivery company plans to increase this number to nearly 40 vans. In all cases, La Poste will deploy the vehicles in Lesquin, Valenciennes and Douai in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France.
'Reliable vehicles needed'
"We are happy to work with Michelin, whose know-how and innovations have served our mobility for more than a century. We deliver letters and parcels all over France, six days a week, with postmen who travel the equivalent of 50 times the circumference of the earth every day. To do this, we need reliable vehicles that offer total safety on the road while reducing our carbon footprint. We expect performance and total peace of mind from the revolutionary MICHELIN Uptis tyres," says Philippe Dorge as deputy general manager of the La Poste group responsible for the Services-Letter-Postal department.
Bruno De Feraudy, Director of OEM Activities at the Michelin Group: "The MICHELIN Uptis tyre is a major innovation in the tyre sector and is an important step in the development of a fully sustainable tyre by 2050. It is the result of some 50 patents in tyre structure and high-tech materials. It demonstrates Michelin's ability to innovate in favour of safer mobility that is kinder to the environment. We are delighted that La Poste, France's largest fleet of 50,000 vehicles and the largest French company, chooses the MICHELIN Uptis tyre."
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Photos: Michelin (copyright Jérôme Cambier)
