Bridgestone announced that it will be supplying teams at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC) with tyres developed using 63 per cent recycled and renewable materials. The tyres, are custom-designed to meet the unique challenges of the 3,000 kilometer across Australia. 

The statement said Bridgestone celebrates the 60th anniversary of its motorsport activities in 2023 and keeps the endeavour to support sustainable global motorsport. 

Bridgestone’s new technology for EV era 

Bridgestone has developed new tyres for the 2023 BWSC featuring ENLITEN®, the company’s new base technology for product design. ENLITEN® elevates conventional tires by enhancing environmental performance while also exceeding the customer and market demands in product performance. Through the advanced performance attributes of ENLITEN® technology, Bridgestone is focused on increasing social value and customer value. 

BWSC tyre made using recycled materials

The tyres Bridgestone is supplying will include those with recycled and renewable material ratio (MCN – Material Circularity Number) of 63 per cent, which is an improvement compared to approx. 30 per cent in the 2019 BWSC event., The recycled and renewable materials used in development of these tyres includes recycled organic fiber, recovered carbon black, recycled rubber chemical, recycled oil, and reinforcement material using recycled steel. Furthermore, tires supplied to the cruiser class were additionally developed using rice husk silica and carbon black recovered through pyrolysis of used tyre. 

Low carbon emission logistics in tyre shipping

For BWSC tyre shipment, Bridgestone chose to work with DHL, a leading logistics provider targeting zero emission by 2050. Through the use of DHL’s GoGreen Plus*3 solution, the transport of tyres to the BWSC will be a 100 per cent carbon neutral shipment through a combination of using sustainable marine fuel (insetting) and compensation of emissions via VER Gold Standard carbon credits (offsetting), according to the statement.