By Samuel Ee

ONE way to cut your fuel bill without switching to lower-grade petrol is to choose the right tyres. A tyre with lower rolling resistance makes a big difference and can save you up to 10 per cent of your total fuel bill, according to Michelin.

The French tyre giant and German carmaker Volkswagen recently held a Fuel Economy Workshop that focused on how to reduce fuel consumption as much as 10 per cent while driving. And because fuel reduction cuts carbon emissions, the environment benefits too.

Michelin says tyres alter their shape to adapt to the road as the wheels rotate, allowing vehicle occupants to enjoy safety, comfort and road-holding.

But this re-shaping also slows the car's momentum, causing part of the energy transmitted to be lost in the form of heat ? a phenomenon known as "rolling resistance".

Of a full tank of petrol for a car, up to 20 per cent is used to counter rolling resistance, says Michelin. For heavy trucks, it is even more at one third of a tank.

Enter the Michelin Energy range of tyres. These specially formulated radial tyres have the key Energy Green X compound to reduce rolling resistance.

Energy Green X tyres contain an improved silicon compound, which is used in the tread to produce lower rolling resistance without compromising on grip and comfort. Michelin says a set of Energy tyres can save up to 5 per cent on each tank of fuel, which in the long term, equates to a free set of tyres.

Together with real-life driving tips, total fuel savings can come up to over 10 per cent, says the tyre maker. These include common sense reminders to drive smoothly and not aggressively, tune and service the engine (a well-tuned engine improves fuel economy up to 4 per cent) and avoid carrying excess weight.

"In general, the awareness that people have about the contribution from tyres to fuel consumption in vehicles is very low," says Prashant Prabhu, president of Michelin Asia-Pacific. "Consequently, the choice of tyres is significant in the overall fuel efficiency of a vehicle."

Mr Prabhu says Michelin's energy saving tyres ? a major breakthrough in 1992 ? have gone through successive evolutions and saved the world "more than 10 billion litres of fuel".

Two Michelin Energy tyre models are available here ? the MXV8 and XM1. Both are designed to perform in heavy rain, while still providing optimal grip in dry conditions. The Energy MXV8 is for sedans and larger MPVs, while the Energy XM1 is used mainly on smaller vehicles and MPVs.

Globally, Michelin equips 39 million automobiles and trucks with the energy-saving tyres.

It launched the Fuel Economy Workshop after it found in a study that 71 per cent of cars on Singapore's roads are running with incorrect tyre pressure ? a cause of fuel inefficiency. The company believes that if the 500,000 or so cars had the correct pressure, there would be a collective saving of 22 million litres of petrol worth $42 million.

Read also:
Stretch your fuel with these tips
Reader: It's not entirely true that high speed will increase fuel consumption

This article was first published in The Business Times on Nov 15, 2008.