Bridgestone to prove Enliten tech at Solar Challenge

TOKYO — The upcoming Bridgestone World Solar Challenge will highlight the capabilities of sun-powered electric vehicles, and it gives Bridgestone Corp. a stage to showcase its Enliten tire technology.

Bridgestone described Enliten as a suite of technologies designed to achieve "maximum performance, maximum sustainability." It includes aspects such as "polymer science and chemical science to new compounds, tread patterns and everything in between," according to Davis Adams-Smith, director of communication at Bridgestone Americas Inc.

"Ultimately, our goal as we're making tires — especially moving forward into the future of our product lines — is making sure you get the tire that you love, that it does all the things you want it to do. ... And that we're doing it in a way that is super, super conscious of the world we live in," Adams-Smith said.

Enliten is part of achieving Bridgestone's goal of 100% carbon neutrality by 2050.

"We're already at 40%, so it's happening quickly for us," Adams-Smith said. "A lot of that includes the introduction of new renewable and recycled materials into our products."

The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge marks the first use of Enliten technology in motorsports competition and an important step toward more sustainable racing, the company said.

This year, Bridgestone celebrates 60 years in motorsports, where it has sought to prove the safety and performance of its products in extreme situations.

The Solar Challenge is certainly extreme. The 1,860-mile, week-long event begins at Darwin, Australia, on Oct. 22 and heads south across the country to Adelaide. The Challenge began in 1987 and is staged once every two years.

Theoretically, the Challenge website stated, it should take a 1,000W solar car around 50 hours to complete the journey. Competitors are allowed 5kW hours of stored energy — 10% of the total needed — but all other energy must come from the sun or be recovered from the kinetic energy of the vehicle.

For the Challenge, the Enliten-engineered tires were designed for low rolling resistance, wear and weight, and Bridgestone said it will "customize" the tires for each race team to optimize and showcase the tech. The tire shown in promotional photographs is relatively narrow — 95/80R16.

Among the tires Bridgestone is supplying is one made with recycled and renewable material ratio of 63% — up 33% from the version built for the 2019 Solar Challenge. Materials used in development of the tires included recycled fiber, recovered carbon black, recycled rubber chemical, recycled oil, and reinforcement material using recycled steel.

Additionally, Bridgestone is working with DHL to deliver the tires via a 100% carbon-neutral shipment — a combination of using sustainable marine fuel and carbon credit off-sets.

"Bridgestone is passionate about contributing to a more sustainable motorsports future at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge through our Enliten tires made with 63% recycled and renewable materials, as well as our collaborative supply chain initiatives," Naotaka Horio, director of Bridgestone motorsports, said.

"Additionally, as title sponsor, we are looking forward to helping young and diverse engineering minds from all over the world create breakthrough technologies in the (Solar Challenge) that can play a role in a more sustainable mobility society of the future."