We attended the presentation of Michelin's new Energy Saver tyres

Last Wednesday the 21st, we had the pleasure of attending an event organised by Michelin at the Jarama circuit (Madrid). In front of nearly one hundred and fifty attendees – mostly journalists and a few bloggers – the Clermont-Ferrand firm presented its new product: the Michelin Energy Saver.

The fourth generation of this tyre continues with a basic principle that its name indicates: maximum efficiency. To demonstrate this, Michelin made vehicles available to those present for an off-road route through the Madrid mountains, using the Navacerrada Pass as a reference point.

As it was impossible to gather as many cars as there were attendees, many of us grouped together to share a single car. I was accompanied by David [Historias del Motor] and Carlos [Motoradictos]; our mount for the day was a Fiat 500 1.3 Multijet 16v petrol with 69 hp. And to be frank, its 75 69 horses were perhaps not the ideal ingredient for tackling the climb to Navacerrada, but as a city car it was more than adequate.

But let us start by looking at how this tyre differs from others. To begin with, according to Michelin the tyre saves the car about 0.2 litres per 100 kilometres on average. At today’s petrol prices, this could amount to roughly a saving of €108 over the useful life of the tyres (in diesel there would also be no notable differences given the rising prices). Commercially speaking, those €108 already equal the price of a new tyre.

However, during the test this cannot be detailed given its brevity and the demands of the route, since the climb to Navacerrada brought instantaneous consumption of between 10 and 15 litres on many occasions.

One aspect we can comment on is its grip, which is very good, and its braking effectiveness. Nevertheless, the latter becomes more noticeable on wet surfaces, saving 3 metres in braking distance.

And since we are talking about efficiency and savings, polluting less is also an area these tyres take care of; on average, 4 grams of CO2 are no longer emitted into the atmosphere for every kilometre driven.

In short, a strong development commitment from the French brand aimed at giving a more pleasant face to the extra expense involved in buying its tyres. It is true that without appropriate driving and proper tyre pressure regulation (among other parameters), the purpose of this tyre evaporates.

But let us not be unrealistic: the Energy Saver is a very option worth considering if you value your wallet, safety and above all efficiency. Its contribution to the environment is not so high as to make it the main reason for buying it. A tyre cannot offer the panacea in this respect either; it would be more commendable to guarantee the full recycling of all tyres produced than to insist so much on it.

Michelin adapts its product to the needs of our time and to the commercial demands in a very good and interesting way, and that is something that can be concluded without any doubt.

Photos | Eduardo Mariz
Press photos | Michelin