Bridgestone launches its new flagship tire in the city bus segment, the Bridgestone U-AP 002. Successor to the U-AP 001, the tire has been designed to lower fuel consumption and exhaust emissions in congested urban areas thanks to decreased rolling resistance. Plus, by increasing tire life through enhanced durability, the result is a tire enabling a reduced total cost of ownership.
Addressing urban mobility’s unique challenges
The Bridgestone U-AP 002 comes with a B-grade in rolling resistance, to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. The new flagship tire also offers 9 per cent longer tire life to ensure excellent mileage1; the tire’s thick sidewall protection and strong casing enable high robustness and multiple tire lives thanks to retreading. These features combine to result in a long-lasting tire that reduces total cost of ownership per kilometre.
The Bridgestone U-AP 002 comes with a 200kg higher load capacity1 – a key electric bus requirement – and is suitable for eight tonne steer axles. As well as CO2 emissions, the Bridgestone U-AP 002 is engineered to decrease urban noise pollution, reducing output by 2dB in PBN from its predecessor. The new flagship tire also provides safety and peace of mind year-round as it’s fully winter ready, with 3PMSF and M+S markings.
Launching April 2021
Developed in Bridgestone’s European Research and Development Centre in Rome and produced in Europe, the Bridgestone U-AP 002 is available in its master size, 275/70 R22.5, from 1 April 2021.
Three further sizes – 245/70 R19.5, 215/75 R17.5 and 315/60 R22.5 – will be available later in the year, with 265/70 R19.5 launching in 2022. The pre-cured tread U-AP 002 master size will follow and be launched in 275/70 R22.5 at the end of 2021, supporting Bridgestone’s ‘Total Tire Care’ approach.2
All Bridgestone U-AP 002 tires in 22.5-inch variants will be equipped with electronic tire tagging system RFID. RFID enables tires to be tracked throughout their entire lifecycle, which brings various benefits, including improving both safety levels and tire recycling rates.
“Urban mobility is faced with various challenges, such as inner-city CO2 emissions and noise pollution – challenges we’re investing in to help address,” said Mark Tejedor, VP Commercial Replacement and OE at Bridgestone EMIA. “Public bus transport is an integral part of a city’s ecosystem and we’re delighted to launch a tire that helps to tackle these various issues at once. Increased mileage, reduced fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, noise and total cost of ownership – these are features that benefit our customers, the environment and city life.”
