1. EPA Activities - Tires Lois Platte September 19, 2002

2. What Part of EPA Interested in Tires? n Office of Air Quality and Transportation Advanced Technology Division Climate Change Technology Team n We evaluate and promote advanced technologies and fuels that reduce greenhouse gases and fuel consumption

3. Fuel Economy Matters n Fuel economy is the usual metric for vehicles that we use to relate to greenhouse gases n Personal vehicles account for about 40% of U.S. oil consumption and about 20% of carbon emissions

4. Measurable Benefits n A 1% improvement in personal vehicle fuel economy saves approximately 1.3 billion gallons of gasoline in one year... n Public saves $2 billion in fuel costs... n Trade deficit reduced $0.7B... n CO2 reduced by 14 MMT

5. EPA Exploring Voluntary Program n Goal: Define a way to measure and communicate to the public the fuel efficiency benefits associated with different tire choices n Wanted to develop a tire ranking system based on test results (measurable and verifiable by EPA) provided by tire manufacturers n Envision providing information on an EPA website or maybe using an Energy Star - like label

6. Current EPA Websites n EPA 5 star rating for emissions and fuel economy by car http://www.epa.gov/autoemissions n Fuel economy and greenhouse gases http://www.fueleconomy.gov

7. Rolling Resistance Test Procedure n SAE tests provide standardized procedures for comparing the rolling resistance of tires n Are the these procedures reflective of consumer driving conditions? n EPA is exploring the questions –Rolling resistance ranking different with transient test? –Rolling resistance ranking different when test started with cold tires?

8. Rolling Resistance vs Fuel Economy n EPA is performing track coast down tests on various tires on the same vehicle n Provides road load characteristics for the specific vehicle and tire for lab fuel economy testing n EPA expects to perform both rolling resistance and fuel economy testing on these tires

9. Contact Information n Lois Platte n 734 - 214 - 4306 n platte.lois@epa.gov