Continental tests commercial vehicle tyres in extreme conditions to enhance performance, focusing on snow handling, optimisation, and electromobility challenges.
Development of Future-Proof Tyre Solutions Thanks to a Global Infrastructure of Test Tracks
Continental tests its tyres 365 days a year on internal test tracks. All Continental tyres are driven extensively under different conditions before being approved for external, independent tyre tests.
The largest European test site is the Contidrom in Jeversen, near Hanover. The company also has other test tracks in the USA and Scandinavia. The test track in Arvidsjaur, Sweden, focuses on winter tyre tests.
“Depending on the weather, we have different test conditions here every day,” explains Joachim Blass, who has worked internationally as a test engineer for Continental for twenty years.
Blass emphasises that during the test drives in Sweden, the tyres’ snow and ice handling performance, snow traction, and rut sensitivity are particularly scrutinised. The results of these tests are incorporated into the continuous development and optimisation of the tyres.
Sustainable Development Impetus Through Diverse Test Structures
The requirements for commercial vehicle tyres are becoming ever more stringent and diverse. The main reasons for this are increasing cost pressure, strict CO2 reduction requirements, and the use of alternative drive systems.
Added to this are the individual tyre requirements of countries around the world. “Overall, criteria such as low rolling resistance and the lowest possible noise emissions have become considerably more important in recent years,” reports Blass. “This will continue as a result of the growing use of electromobility.”
In outdoor tyre tests, such as at the test site in Sweden, Continental engineers use extreme winter conditions to investigate and further develop tyre criteria. “Depending on the atmospheric and surface temperature, precipitation, wind, solar radiation and humidity, we often find very different test conditions,” explains Blass.
Tyre Criteria for Vehicles
New products and tyre optimisations are tested, and compound formulations and tread designs are compared depending on the weather conditions.
“Together with an industry partner, we are currently investigating which changes to the tyre design make sense for use on e-trailers in order to optimally design the tyres for the requirements of a battery-electric drive.”
“We see the test tracks as a campus where we try out new things in order to understand how the tyres react in combination with vehicles during driving manoeuvres, even at the limits.”
Humans as the Best Sensor
In the commercial vehicle sector, tyre tests focus on rolling resistance, mileage, noise, traction, braking, and cornering behaviour. Braking behaviour, traction, and cornering stability are tested on the outdoor track in Sweden, particularly under various winter track conditions.
The subjective assessment focuses on traction and handling. In the objective tests, the tyres’ braking and traction capabilities are recorded using state-of-the-art measurement technology.
“In the subjective assessment, I am the sensor. I experience the reaction of the vehicle and give my assessment”, explains Blass.
“Ultimately, the driver is the measure of all things,” he emphasises. “For the interaction of tyre characteristics in real driving conditions, the human being is still the best sensor.”
