Oil company HPCL has introduced nitrogen filling of tyres at its Millennium Outlet at Siripuram, Tamil Nadu. It guarantees tyre pressure retention for two months. According to a company spokesman, nitrogen filling results in less inflation pressure loss, cooler tyres, increases mileage and enhances tread life, reduces wheel corrosion and prevents uneven wear and no sudden loss of pressure when punctured.
Nitrogen also significantly slows down the chemical ageing process of the rubber components, says the company. Nitrogen disperses heat very quickly and thereby enhances fuel efficiency, the reason that aircraft use nitrogen in tyres.
While the oxygen in compressed air can permeate the tyre wall reducing tyre pressure, the diffusion is much slower with nitrogen. Thus nitrogen can maintain tyre pressure for a longer time and ensures safer motoring. Running with quicker heat dispersion helps in extending tread life and reduces tyre failure.
Great! A technical improvement, but do vehicles on Indian roads need this really? Or is it just another fad? Is it more suited for racing cars? Having created such a need, is this adding to the energy budget given the nitrogen production plants required?
How much does it help to decrease oxidative ageing of tyres? Aren’t tyres killed more by nails strewn on our roads than oxidation?
There are scientific reasons for using nitrogen, like avoiding corrosion due to oxygen and compressed water vapour, etc but are these reasons enough to propogate nitrogen filling in vehicle tyres? Let us know what you think.
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