California’s Proposed Replacement Tire Efficiency Program

This report proposes new efficiency regulations for replacement tires sold for passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks in California.

Assembly Bill 844 (Nation, Chapter 645, Statutes of 2003), codified in Public Resources Code Sections 25770 through 25773, directs the California Energy Commission (CEC) to adopt a replacement tire efficiency program “designed to ensure that replacement tires sold in the state are at least as energy efficient, on average, as tires sold in the state as original equipment on new passenger cars and light-duty trucks.” Replacement tires are those purchased by drivers to replace existing tires. The tires sold with new vehicles are referred to as original equipment tires. Testing commissioned by the CEC shows that original equipment tires are more efficient than replacement tires.

Tire efficiency has a significant impact on the energy consumption of vehicles. How easily a tire rolls, referred to as rolling resistance, affects how much drivers spend on fuel for their vehicle, whether gasoline, diesel, electricity, or hydrogen fuel. The regulations proposed in this staff report are, if adopted, expected to save each California driver of a gasoline passenger vehicle about $179 (2024 dollars) in fuel costs over the typical four-year life of a set of tires. In total, the regulations are anticipated to save California drivers about $979 million (2024 dollars) in fuel costs annually in 2035 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 2.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2035. This quantity is equivalent to about 1.9 percent of California’s 2021 passenger vehicle emissions.

The CEC staff analysis shows that the regulations proposed in this staff report are technically feasible, are cost-effective, and will not compromise safety, reduce tire life, or increase tire waste.