The Effect of Tire Inflation Pressure on Vehicle Fuel Economy

摘要

The technical literature indicates that most vehicles on the road are operated with underinflated tires. Since tire energy dissipation increases at lower tire inflation pressure and vehicle fuel consumption increases with increasing tire energy dissipation, a vehicle with underinflated tires will consume more fuel than it would with properly inflated tires. Consequently, a program to increase average tire inflation pressure on in-use vehicles would result in significant fuel savings. The 1977 emission factors program conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Motor Vehicle Emission Laboratory provided an opportunity to gather tire inflation data from in-use vehicles. This report discusses the analysis of these data and proposes a simple approach to increase tire inflation pressure and reduce U.S. fuel consumption.