ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
California is rolling out a new rule to cut vehicle emissions. It says that when Californians replace their car tires, they'll have to be at least as efficient as tires on a new car. The California Energy Commission approved the rule last week and says more efficient tires will reduce the pollution that contributes to climate change. Here to explain is Ken Rider the California Energy Commission's chief policy adviser. Mr. Rider, welcome.
KEN RIDER: Hello. Pleasure to be here.
FLORIDO: Let's start with a science here. How do better tires cut greenhouse gas emissions?
RIDER: Yes. So as a tire rolls, it meets the road surface, and it smashes and deforms. And as it leaves the road surface, it retakes its shape like rubber does. What happens during that process is there's internal friction in the rubber that converts some of the energy that would normally keep your vehicle moving forward into heat. And what a low rolling resistance tire does is it reduces that internal friction or the amount of rubber deformation. Now, let me give you an example that maybe a consumer has faced, as well, which is, if you've ever ridden a bike and you've ridden one with a slightly deflated tire, that also increases that internal friction in the tire. And it's very difficult to ride that bike, whereas if you have a fully inflated tire, much easier to ride. And that's from the difference in rolling resistance.
FLORIDO: So essentially, the squishier your tire is, it sounds like, the more energy it takes your car to move that tire down the road. And the more energy your car requires to move that tire down the road, the more emissions it's spewing out into the environment.
RIDER: Exactly. That is correct.
FLORIDO: Your group has calculated that this new rule, these new standards to make tires more efficient would cut California's CO2 emissions by 2 million metric tons per year. Can you put that in perspective for us?
RIDER: Yeah, that's about equivalent to taking 400,000 passenger cars off the road. It's a pretty substantial amount for a program to save.
FLORIDO: New tires are not cheap, and some tiremakers have been pushing back on this new rule because it's going to drive up costs for drivers. How much more expensive is this going to make it to replace your tires in California?
RIDER: Well, the energy commission has studied the incremental cost question when developing this standard, and it has, through its research, come to a number of about $1.50 for Phase 1, which would come into effect in 2029.
FLORIDO: This is $1.50 per tire (inaudible).
RIDER: A dollar fifty per tire, so that would be about $6 for an entire set in Phase 1 and about $26 in Phase 2. And that is in comparison to fuel savings of about $179 in Phase 2 and about $85 in Phase 1.
FLORIDO: So you're saying that the amount of money that people are going to spend to replace their tires with more efficient ones is going to be less than the amount of money that they would spend on gas if they were driving less efficient tires?
RIDER: That's right. And we would expect those consumers to have that incremental cost fully paid back in the order of a few months, about half a year.
FLORIDO: Any tips in the meantime before this rule does take effect, short of replacing your tires, you know, to help people squeeze better gas mileage out of the ones they have now?
RIDER: Absolutely. Yes. Besides buying more efficient tires, a consumer can make sure their tire is properly inflated. So the energy commission proposed standard is going to generate about $1 billion of fuel savings for consumer pocketbooks. That can also just also be achieved by making sure your tires are at the right pressure. It's about the same impact. Ideally, you have both a low rolling resistance tire and a well-inflated tire, but that's something consumers can go do right now to try to save money on fuel.
FLORIDO: I've been speaking with Ken Rider, chief policy adviser at the California Energy Commission. Thanks so much for being with us.
RIDER: Thanks for having me.
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