Michelin adds innovation partnership with Daimler Trucks

Michelin North America, Inc. is partnering with Daimler Trucks North America (“DTNA”) on a key feature of the recently announced Freightliner Cascadia Class 8 heavy-duty truck. Three years in development, the MICHELIN® X® Line EnergyTM D+ tire will be the featured long-haul drive-tire solution, contributing to the new Cascadia’s 5 percent fuel-efficiency improvement over the 2017 model. With about 35 percent of vehicle fuel consumption attributed to overcoming tire rolling resistance, the MICHELIN X Line Energy D+ sets new standards for ultra-low rolling resistance in a dual drive tire1 as one of DTNA’s key fuel-efficiency building blocks in the new Cascadia.

“The strong partnership with Daimler Trucks North America has resulted in new technology development through a close, collaborative and technical relationship,” said Adam Murphy, vice president, B2B marketing, Michelin North America.

In 2015, Michelin and DTNA began collaboration through an advanced-engineering project with the objective to reduce the fuel consumption of Freightliner’s next-generation Cascadia Class 8 heavy-duty trucks. The project took a holistic-design approach to design an ultra-low rolling-resistance tire for the tractor drive axle that integrated new-vehicle technologies to reduce fuel consumption while maintaining tire wear.

The project combined tire-vehicle performance simulation with experimental validation and yielded a product with the lowest rolling resistance offered by Michelin in a dual-fitment drive tire. The MICHELIN 275/80R22.5 X Line Energy D+ tire will be fitted exclusively as original equipment on the new Cascadia trucks recently announced by DTNA and will be commercialized for the replacement market later in the year.