Michelin is using this year’s MotoE World Cup as a real-world laboratory by producing tyres which are comprised of up to 40 percent sustainable materials.
Michelin is the official tyre supplier to the MotoGP class itself and its all-electric offshoot, MotoE, the latter of which will see its third season kick off this weekend in Spain.
The French tyre manufacturer this year announced its intention to manufacture all its tyres using sustainable materials by 2050, and an interim target of 40 percent sustainable materials Group-wide by 2030, as part of the Michelin in Motion plan.
It is already meeting that interim target with MotoE’s rear tyres, while the figure for the front tyres is 33 percent.
‘Sustainable materials’ are defined as both recycled materials and renewable, bio-sourced substances, and include:
- Orange and lemon peel
- Pine resin
- Sunflower oil
- Hevea sap
- Worn truck and car tyres
- Scrap steel
The high percentages of sustainable materials in the MotoE tyres is enabled by a process developed by partner company Enviro, which recovers components such as carbon black from worn-out tyres to make new tyres.
Between development of the range and the MotoE season itself, Michelin and Enviro will have collectively recycled 20 tonnes of old tyres, leading to 4.6 tonnes of sustainable materials being used again.
The latter figure is the equivalent of:
- The weight of 18 electric motorcycles
- 71 times the bodyweight of Marc Marquez
- The weight of 13,143 Margherita pizzas
- The weight of 31 velociraptors
- The weight of 30 Hobie Cat catamarans
For riders, testing showed that the new Michelin tyres deliver faster lap times and quicker warm-up performance.
There will be seven MotoE races across six rounds this year, the first being at Jerez on April 30-May 2.
Meanwhile, Michelin has been announced as title sponsor of the Grand Prix of Finland, Round 10 of the MotoGP season and its first visit to the new KymiRing, on July 9-11.
MotoE 2021 tyre allocation Per rider
| Front | Rear | |
| One-race weekend | ||
| Slicks | 4 | 5 |
| Wets | 3 | 4 |
| Two-race weekend | ||
| Slicks | 5 | 6 |
| Wets | 4 | 5 |
