After Manitoba recently followed Quebec and Ontario in allowing wide-base single tires to carry the same load weights as dual tires on designated highways, truckers in neighbouring Alberta are urging their province to follow suit.
Carl Rosenau of Rosenau Transport Ltd and former chairman for the Alberta Motor Transport Association, recently told the Edmonton Sun that for six years the group has been lobbying for parity as a way for the industry to improve productivity while also reducing fuel consumption and its carbon footprint.
He said he hopes Manitoba’s recent announcement to remove weight penalties associated with single wide base tires will carry over into Alberta.
“The European market has been using them for 20 or 30 years. Ontario, Quebec, and [most recently] Manitoba can pull full-weight using wide based singles,” said Rosenau who pointed out that new generation single tire technology ensures that infrastructure isn’t harmed.
but studies have proven that it doesn’t,” said Rosenau.
One of the major benefits of singles is a notable weight reduction per axle, each wide based single can reduce the wheel weight up to 90 kg, up to 360 kg per truck. A reduction that would potentially allow drivers to allocate the reduced weight into carrying larger loads.
Aside from weight reduction, wide based single tires appeal to industry experts for a variety of reasons.