Contact Us
Case Studies
Solutions

Services

Fleet Decarbonisation PlanningDesigning and managing fleet trialsLeading government-backed fleet programmesBespoke tool developmentComing soon

Software tools

ZERORoute ZEROTyre AnalyticsAero Analytics

Customers

Fleet OperatorsCharging InfrastructureTelematicsFleet LeasingOEMs & Tyre ManufacturersConsulting
Free ToolsFree TCO calculatorAero Savings Estimator
GamesLet's playCharge Control
Contact Us
White Mercedes tractor unit pulling a Sainsbury’s refrigerated trailer in an orange and red livery, on an industrial estate

Sainsbury’s: Low-rolling-resistance tyres on the distribution fleet

Tyre Analytics29 October 2026By Dynamon

Sainsbury’s wanted to know what low-rolling-resistance tyres would do to fuel use on the vehicles that move goods between its distribution centres. Over a year, a controlled trial — believed to be the industry’s largest tyre trial completed to date — measured that difference in live operation. Dynamon followed the groups in Tyre Analytics.

Key outcomes

  • About 160 vehicles Split evenly into test and control at eight distribution centres across the UK.
  • More than eight million miles Covered by the vehicles in the final analysis, from November 2024 to November 2025.
  • A statistically significant fuel saving In real operation. The two groups were driven in a very similar way, so the difference could be attributed to the tyres.

The fleet

The vehicles in this study are the heavy goods vehicles based at Sainsbury’s distribution centres: about 160 tractor units across eight sites. At each site the fleet was split evenly, with about ten vehicles on low-rolling-resistance tyres and about ten keeping the tyres already in service.

White Mercedes tractor unit pulling a Sainsbury’s refrigerated trailer in an orange and red livery, on an industrial estate
A Sainsbury’s distribution vehicle. The trial compared low-rolling-resistance tyres with the tyres already in service, on the heavy goods vehicles that run between the distribution centres.

The approach

Sainsbury’s designed the groups. Dynamon set them up in Tyre Analytics and compared them from November 2024 to November 2025: how fast they drove, how they accelerated, the hills they climbed, the distance they covered and the fuel they used.

The vehicles that remained in the final analysis covered more than eight million miles. One site was left out because the telematics coverage was not strong enough for a fair comparison.

What the trial showed

Across the year the two groups were driven in a very similar way. Speed, acceleration and gradient stayed close enough that the difference in fuel use could be attributed to the tyres.

The low-rolling-resistance tyres delivered a statistically significant fuel saving in live service. That result held across most of the distribution centres in the final analysis.

A change of tyre is usually judged on price and wear. This trial put the fuel effect on the same footing, at the scale of a national grocery fleet, and showed that low-rolling-resistance tyres cut fuel use on the road.

Book a demo