Michelin North America recently unveiled the Michelin X One Line Energy T2 tire, its most fuel-efficient trailer tire to date, according to the company.

This new Michelin X One Line Energy T2 boasts an improved tread wear combined with fuel and weight savings, which lowers the total cost of ownership for fleets, according to Adam Murphy, vice president of B2B marketing at Michelin North America.

“The trailer-wheel position is a challenging position for long-haul tire design,” said Murphy. “The free-rolling wheel position is subject to variable loads, less maintenance and irregular wear.”

The SmartWay-verified X One Line Energy T2 is targeted for the dry-van truckload, refrigerated truckload, and tanker segments, and is said to increase fuel savings through an 11% lower rolling resistance when used in the trailer position and can increase revenue by carrying up to 287 more pounds of payload.

The tread design helps prevent irregular wear and incorporates compounds designed to improve resistance to late-life tire aggression. The dual-compound tread consists of a mileage top layer to control tread stiffness and stress to reduce irregular wear, and a fuel-efficient bottom layer that minimizes internal casing temperatures for low rolling resistance. The tread incorporates directional micro-sipes, resulting in a directional tire for the first half of tire life. Located along the center ribs, matrix siping with zigzag walls interlock for squirm resistance.