With Michelin improving their efficiency and performance with their season three compound which sees an efficiency gain of 11 per cent. We wondered if a tyre war in Formula E would help develop tyres that are even more energy efficient?

A tyre war in Formula E may cause tyre manufacturers to come up with new and exciting ideas to increase energy efficiency and find ways to turn lost energy such as heat into useful electrical energy, which can be captured and restored into the powertrain.

Last year Goodyear announced a concept tyre that would generate electricity from lost heat energy, which can be converted back into the powertrain to give the cars greater efficiency.

Obviously, this is a concept and the amount data and technology to actually create such a tyre is still unknown. However, if Goodyear was in a tyre war with Michelin in Formula E, that may force the American company to look deeper into how they can make that tyre a reality.

Goodyear is positive that their concept can become a reality in the future. As a Goodyear spokesperson offered a brief explanation of how this concept could work.

“This tyre generates electricity through the action of materials in the tyre that capture and transform the energy created by heat when it flexes as it rolls during normal driving conditions. The materials used would optimise the tyre’s electricity generation capabilities as well as its rolling resistance.