Agnès Poulbot, an engineer at Michelin, one of the biggest names in the tire industry, has patented a new tread pattern that allows a tire to "regenerate" as it is used: whenever one layer wears away, a new one appears beneath it. This extends the tire's lifespan and saves fuel: *"With my tire, you save one liter of fuel per hundred kilometers. A truck driver covering
100,000 km a year will save a thousand liters of fuel, or about €1,200,"* explains the 3D modeling specialist. "People do not always realize it, but tires account for a quarter of a truck's fuel consumption," she adds.
Her employer has every reason to be delighted: Michelin expects its engineer's invention to account for 30% of its heavy-truck tire sales by 2022…
