At its facility in Yakutsk, the Republic of Sakha, a resident of the Yakutia Advanced Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) has started testing winter car tires for use in the harsh climate of the Russian Arctic. The testing on ice tracks at the North Eastern Federal University’s testing center was conducted using tires made by the Russian Cordiant Holding, one of the twenty largest tire producers in the world.

In the near future representatives of the Intyre research and engineering center (part of the Cordiant Holding), the Vershina testing center, and the Road Transport faculty of the North Eastern Federal University will conduct field tests of the new Snow Cross Cordiant 3 range of winter tires. Special ice tracks have been constructed and a maintenance center has been set up at the testing center in preparation for the tests.

According to Viacheslav Sablyukov, Head of Road Testing at the Vershina testing center, the company will conduct a range of different road tests including laboratory, performance and high-speed road tests.

“In Yakutia the main focus is on laboratory road testing. We are now in our third year of testing at the North Eastern Federal University’s testing center for the last three years, and have developed a system. We are trying to use the site in Yakutia as much as possible, as its geographical and climatic features allow us to do research and carry out assessments that would be impossible elsewhere,” said Mr. Sablyukov.

It should be noted that the tire testing is being done on natural, and not artificial ice - this is an important factor in the research. All this enables us to test the performance of Cordiant products and develop proposals to further improve their specifications.

Technology and equipment manufacturers are showing increasing interest in having their products tested for frost resistance in sub-Arctic conditions. “Last year we tested Lada saloon cars and Mercedes tractors, the latter designed for long-term durability. And recently we tested the new Renault models in the same way,” said Dmitry Filippov, dean of the North Eastern Federal University’s Road Transport Faculty and head of the testing center.

Mr. Filippov added that both foreign and Russian manufacturers have traditionally conducted such tests in Scandinavia, where the testing infrastructure has been developed over many years. But as a result of global warming many northern regions now have shorter, milder winters, which has reduced the time window and opportunity for testing of this sort. The current sanctions regime is also making it more difficult to take Russian technology and equipment abroad.

“Yakutia’s long and harsh winters make the testing center at the North Eastern Federal University a perfect replacement for foreign facilities. We now have all we need - material resources, the technology and the scientific expertise. We are also ready to adapt to our customers’ requirements,” Mr Filippov added.

Low-tmperature testing at the North Eastern Federal University’s track began in 2012, with tests on tires made by the Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone. Bridgestone’s testing needs increased steadily and to meet the demand it was necessary to construct a ready to use and fully equipped testing center. In 2017 North Eastern Federal University Testing Center LLC signed an agreement with the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation and became a resident of the Yakutia ASEZ. Total investment in the project amounts to some 70 million rubles.

“To support the successful implementation of the project, the FEDC granted the testing center a discounted lease of a land plot with a total area of 72.5 hectares. The managing company took responsibility for the technological connection of the facilities to the water and power networks. The resident also has the benefit of the ASEZ’s preferential tax and administrative regimes,” said Dmitry Borisov, Director of Kangalassy Industrialny Park LLC (a subsidiary of the FEDC).

Currently 31 businesses have the status of resident of the Yakutia ASEZ. The total investment portfolio under project agreements with the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation amounts to 12.9 billion rubles. The full implementation of all the projects will create 1,800 jobs for residents of the region. To date 11 projects have been launched, 4.2 billion rubles have been invested, and more than 500 jobs created.