An End to Spare Tires? Eco-Friendly Steel Tires Could Replace Rubber

In the past, we have brought you different advanced and futuristic tires that were bound to impress with their ingenuity. However, one thing these tires all had in common was that they were made of rubber.

Now, an Arizona-based startup called Global Air Cylinder Wheels (GACW) has developed a new type of tire that foregoes the need for pollutive rubber. It’s called the Air Suspension Wheel (ASW) and it comes courtesy of serial inventor and structural dynamic engineer Dr. Zoltan Kemeny.

It consists of a mechanical wheel mostly made of steel equipped with in-wheel pneumatic suspension through cylinders and better yet it is eco-friendly and cost-efficient. This is because it has the same lifespan as its associated vehicle.

Once the vehicle’s time has ended, the ASW tire can be reconditioned or completely recycled. That is an option that rubber tires simply don’t offer.

One area where this type of tire can be extremely useful for is Off The Road (OTR) purposes.

OTR tires are the massive tires found on agriculture and construction equipment. These tires are used on terrain that has major wear and tear. They are also quite pricey: costing $75,000 each sometimes for a lifespan of just six to nine months.

“That is a large expense for a product that does not last,” GACW told Benzinga.

This is where the ASW tire comes in extremely handy. It provides a long-lasting durable option for farm and construction vehicles that do not need to be replaced for the entire lifetime of the vehicle.

But don’t let the firm’s interest in the OTR market fool you. The ASW technology can be applied to all vehicles currently using traditional rubber tires. And that is something GACW is planning to take advantage of.

“At this point, our plan is to expand our distribution network and really start taking the tire industry by storm,” the company concluded.