Case study: SRF Low Rolling Resistance Tyre Project

Results from the SRF Low Rolling Resistance Tyre Project demonstrate combining low-RR tyres with trailer steering can cut fuel costs and tyre wear across all HGV routes, especially urban driving…

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Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are essential to modern life, but they are expensive to operate and produce a disproportionate share of road transport emissions. Two major costs for fleet operators are fuel consumption and tyre wear. The SRF Low Rolling Resistance Tyre Project investigates:

How tyre choice affects overall operating costs of HGVs and;
whether adding a low cost system to steer the trailer axles could improve outcomes (see figure 2).

Why tyres matter

The choice of tyres influences both: how much fuel a truck uses and how quickly the tyres wear out.

Low rolling resistance (low-RR) tyres reduce the energy lost as tyres roll along the road, which lowers fuel use and carbon emissions.
However, these tyres typically have shallower tread and less durable tread materials so they can wear out faster, increasing replacement costs.
Conventional tyres usually last longer but use more fuel.

Fleet operators therefore face a trade-off: save money on fuel, or save money on tyres

The SRF Tyre Project team comprised researchers from the University of Cambridge and industrial partners including Turners, Goodyear, Tesco, Waitrose, and Volvo. Through monthly project meetings, the industry partners provided practical insights, operational data, and real-world expertise, directly informing the design and refinement of researchers simulation models. These models were subsequently tested and validated through 18-month in-service trial, with data loggers installed on two Turners vehicles, ensuring the simulations accurately reflected real-world HGV performance.

Computer Simulation

They also studied the effect of a novel trailer steering system (Fig 1), which helps trailer wheels follow the path of the truck more closely during turns. This reduces sideways tyre scrubbing and wear

The researchers developed detailed computer models to simulate:

Fuel consumption, using real-world driving data.
Tyre wear during cornering, where trailer tyres experience severe “scrubbing” against the road surface (see figure 1).

Real World Testing

They tested these models against measurements of Turners trucks in-service to confirm their accuracy (see figure 3) and then applied them to three typical driving patterns:

Long-haul (mostly motorway driving)
Urban (frequent turns, roundabouts, stop-start traffic)
Mixed (a combination of both)

With trailer steering:

Low-RR tyres are cheaper overall for long-haul and mixed routes, because fuel savings outweigh faster tyre wear.

Conventional tyres are cheaper for urban routes, where frequent turning causes low-RR tyres to wear out too quickly.

With trailer steering:

Tyre wear is dramatically reduced in all driving conditions.

Low-RR tyres become the most cost-effective option for all routes, including urban driving.

In other words, trailer steering removes the main disadvantage of low-RR tyres.

Is trailer steering worth the cost?

The authors estimate that the novel steering system should cost about £5,600 per vehicle when it is commercialised. They calculated how long it would take for fuel and tyre savings to repay this cost:

Urban routes: about 3 years
Mixed routes: about 6 years
Long-haul only: around 15 years – so not economically attractive in this case.

This means trailer steering makes the most financial sense for trucks that regularly operate in cities or mixed conditions, with a lot of turning due to roundabouts.

Evidence-based guidance on tyre choice and trailer technologies to reduce total operating costs, informed by a collaborative project between academic researchers and industry partners.
Shows that combining low-RR tyres with trailer steering can cut fuel use and tyre wear simultaneously, particularly on urban and mixed routes.
Includes quantified payback periods, helping fleets assess when investments are economically justified.

Demonstrates the value of industry–academia collaboration by validating academic models with real fleet data and in-service testing
Confirms the robustness of high-fidelity simulation methods for analysing fuel consumption and tyre wear.

Benefits for urban freight, supporting local air quality, non-exhaust emissions and climate objectives.
Informs targeted incentives or standards that balance emissions reduction and cost.

Chen Liu, Parth Deshpande, Xiaoxiang Na, David Cebon, ‘Total Cost of Ownership of HGV Tyres based on Wear and Fuel Consumption’. Submitted to Transportation Research, Part D, December 2025.