Rolling returns: Fleets exploring benefits of LRR tires

For fleet operators, decisions about low-rolling-resistance tires increasingly come down to total cost per mile: whether fuel savings offset the purchase price, how long the tread lasts and how well the tires meet the demands of a particular application. The Trump administration’s rollback of heavy-duty greenhouse gas emissions regulations earlier this year may have removed one incentive for the industry to adopt LRR tires but left that basic business calculation unchanged. Those regulations applied not to fleets but to equipment manufacturers, which increasingly used LRR tires as one means of improving fuel efficiency and meeting the now-repealed federal emissions standards. Robert Braswell, executive director of American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council, said elevated diesel prices are driving adoption of LRR tires. “With $6- to $7-a-gallon diesel, I don’t think a whole lot of people are thinking about changing their specs away from LRR tires because of any changes in greenhouse gas rules,” he said. Braswell said fuel savings will more than cover the higher costs associated with LRR tires if a fleet has a good maintenance program. The service-life gap between LRR tires and other tires is narrowing because of improved compounds and designs. While adoption has increased over the long term, he hasn’t heard whether short-term interest is rising. A fleet can save between $3,000 and $5,000 in fuel over the life of a set of LRR tires, said Daryl Bear, chief operating officer of MVT Solutions, a fuel economy testing subsidiary of Mesilla Valley Transportation. “If you’re not running tires that qualify as LRR, then you’re throwing…

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