As part of ZEvRA, our consortium partner Continental has developed a concept passenger-car tire incorporating approximately 43% recycled materials.
As the sole tire manufacturer among our 28 consortium partners, Continental demonstrates that safety-critical automotive components can successfully integrate high shares of secondary raw materials while meeting stringent performance criteria, including achieving the highest rating for the EU rolling resistance label.
“Circular materials can help save resources and energy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They are key to making mobility more sustainable. Our concept tire shows what is technically possible today – while serving as a catalyst for the innovations of tomorrow.”
— Dr. Andreas Topp, head of Platform Development and Industrialisation for passenger-car tires at Continental
Key material and technical highlights from Continental’s contribution:
Material composition: In addition to 43 percent recycled content, including recycled tall oil, recycled steel, recovered rubber from end-of-life tires, and polyester fibres from recycled PET bottles, the tire integrates around 13 percent renewable raw materials and 25 percent mass-balance-certified materials. In total, over 80 percent comes from sustainable sources.
Secondary raw material integration: The development leverages advanced recovery processes, including recovered carbon black (rCB) derived through pyrolysis and alternative silica manufactured using foundry sand residue (rSand).
Industrial scalability & policy framework: The initiative underlines that technical progress must be accompanied by reliable, aligned European regulatory frameworks and standardised definitions to enable effective market ramp-up and closed-loop material flows.
The insights gained by Continental provide vital empirical data for ZEvRA’s broader mission to optimise circularity across the electric vehicle lifecycle.
