The N2Revolution: is it actually just a lot of hot air?

When we first saw the N2Revolution PR frenzy, we were disappointed that the hype focuses so much on the downside of poorly inflated tyres (which don’t need nitrogen to remedy the situation) and not so much on the actual benefits of the system. Launched in Florida last week, the company’s flagship tyre inflation solution, the PurigeN98, uses 98% nitrogen to inflate tyres instead of air (78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen), and the basic idea is that if everyone used nitrogen instead of air in their car tyres, the world would be a cleaner, better place, with less petrol, oil and tyre consumption and hence less pollution. That’s true and the more we looked into it, the more using nitrogen makes sense. But will it save anybody any money?

Anybody who has ever had anything to do with Motorsport knows what a difference a few pounds per square inch (psi) can make to tyre temperatures, wear, performance and the amount of time it takes to complete a given distance. Logically, if it makes such a difference over your average 10 lap car club dash, it can make a lot more difference over the life of a tyre on the road, … and it does.

Every car/tyre combination has an optimum range for tyre inflation pressures and according to the US Federal Department of Transportation, roughly 80% of all vehicles in the United States have under-inflated tyres. Indeed, the vast majority of vehicle owners do not know what their optimum tyre inflation figure is, so it follows that the vast majority of the cars on the road have incorrect tyre pressures. The actual figures are scarey – given how many of us die on the roads, we’re still negligent in critical safety precautions such as ensuring our tyres can safely transport us, our children and our friends and that we can safely control a lump of metal weighing a ton or more travelling at speed amongst our extended family.

Now through valve leakage and seepage, tyres inflated with air drop roughly 2 psi per month – so it’s not a set and forget thing. If you don’t actively maintain your tyres at the optimum pressures, they will eventually deflate and you’ll pay in many ways.

Incorrectly inflated tires are the leading cause of tyre failure and can adversely affect braking, handling and steering – that makes sense – no matter how good the car is, it is only as good as the tyres which transmit its motive forces to the tarmac.

As a rough rule of thumb, if your tyres are 20% below the optimum, you’ll reduce your tyre life by up to 50% and the additional rolling resistance can add 10% or more to your fuel consumption. Across the life of a tyre, that’s a massive financial penalty on the driver and it’s no wonder that the U.S. Department of Energy reports that the national US fleet burns 4 million gallons of gasoline unnecessarily every day due to low tire pressure.

So how will filling your tyres with nitrogen make any difference?

Firstly, nitrogen does not leak from tyres as readily as air. There are many factors involved in this but bottom line is that it will retain its pressure much better and without oxygen in the mix, won’t expand as much when heat is added, maintaining the optimum tyre pressure and tyre temperature far better.

That’s why nitrogen is used in by Formula One and NASCAR teams, in heavy-duty commercial off road equipment and by commercial and military aircraft. When you’re landing an airplane or hitting the apex of a racetrack turn at 200mph, it’s nice to know your tyres are correctly inflated.

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