POINTE-CLAIRE, QC-Yes, your tires can affect your fleet’s fuel economy. And soon, you will know exactly which kind of tires are most fuel efficient.  

The PIT Group, a research and engineering organization focused on improving fleet-maintenance operations in the North American transportation industry has announced that fuel economy of tires will be the focus of its Spring Energotest being held June 9 at the Transport Canada test track in Blainville, QC,

“PIT Group fleet members met in March to identify testing and R&D priorities for the coming year,” said PIT’s director, market and business development Yves Provencher. “Each member lists issues they are facing and our engineers create a list of potential items to test. Members then vote to identify their top ten priorities. This year, fleet members voted to focus on tire fuel economy.”

During the test, tires from BF Goodrich, Bridgestone, Continental, Goodyear and Michelin will undergo a series of fuel economy tests using the most stringent protocols in the industry to measure tire performance.

The tire tests will be based on TMC Type II and Type III Fuel Consumption Test Procedures. In the Type II test, each brand will be compared to each of the other brands using a control tire brand. For the Type III testing, each tire brand will be tested on several identical vehicles, by switching tires from one test vehicle to another between tests, to clearly identify their impact on fuel consumption.

The newest fleet to join the PIT Group is Loblaw Inc., and this brings PIT’s fleet membership count to 46.