Neu-Isenburg, Germany, 12th September 2017 - In the portfolio of premium tyre maker Hankook, KINERGY represents the exceptionally economic summer tyre for vehicles from micro-car/small car to the lower mid-range. Due to the increasing electrification of smaller vehicle classes, accompanied by further urbanisation and shortage of space for traffic, the company envisages an increasing market for these vehicle segments and appropriate tyres. Alongside pure economic efficiency they also offer optimised traction and braking performances as well as noise comfort, and are therefore suitable for future generations of electric vehicles with their high torques and very low drive noise levels.
KINERGY is short for Kinetic Energy (from the Greek Kinesis = movement), in other words ‘the energy an object contains due to its movement’. It corresponds to the work that must be done to move the object from rest to its current movement. With the new Hankook tyre, this is much lower than with conventional tyres of this class. The suffix ECO provides orientation for consumers as it is widely understood to be a synonym both for ecology and economy, combining the eco-friendly an economical fuel-saving characteristics of the tyre for the benefit of both nature and consumers’ wallets. The first KINERGY ECO generation, which was launched in 2011, received many independent international awards 1). The new KINERGY ECO² is retaining these positive characteristics whilst being further improved
Optimisation of braking performance in the wet was a focus during development of the latest additions to the KINERGY family. A high-grip silica tread compound in conjunction with the compounding technology already used for the company’s performance products provides much better distribution of polymers and fillers in the tread compound. This has improved both wet braking performance and reduced rolling resistance even further. In addition, three linear grooves make fast drainage possible and also increase vehicle control on wet roads.
By using a newly designed, asymmetrical tread, the actual contact surface between the tyre and the road was optimised compared with its predecessor’s profile. Along with the improved tread stiffness in both radial and lateral directions, as well as the massive outer tyre shoulder, the KINERGY ECO² provides more driving stability and a significantly better dry performance. The dry braking performance of the tyre was also improved by four percent. This was made possible by applying chamfered tread block edges across the entire tread surface, which immediately increased the contact surface during braking. Newly-developed polymers with a high molecular weight in the tread compound of the KINERGY ECO² increase its wear-resistance by four percent.
Thanks to an improved pitch design, the noise development of the tyre particularly at country road speed has been further reduced, improving the comfort features even further. By using the latest Hankook design technology when positioning the tread grooves, development engineers were able to achieve a significant reduction in the noise level of the tread, even with improved tyre life. Like all current Hankook products, the KINERGY ECO² has a Visual Alignment Indicator System (VAI) on both tyre shoulders, which allows drivers to check the basic body alignment easily and conveniently.
