We explain why your driving style – and high-tech compounds – might just save you a fortune at the fitters
With their hefty kerb weights and instant torque delivery, EVs will suffer from faster tyre wear than a traditional ICE car – at least that’s the received wisdom.
In many respects, it’s simple physics. You don’t even have to get behind the wheel and put the theory to the test: just get the calculator out and do the sums.
Yet as with everything in life, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Dig a little deeper and you will find that, yes, in many circumstances EVs do chew through rubber and an accelerated rate. Even Michelin has admitted that battery-powered cars can wear out tyres up to 20% faster than petrols and diesels.
However, tyre manufacturers are quickly coming to terms with the issue and developing EV-specific rubber that’s more robust, matching and even exceeding longevity of ICE cars. Moreover, it’s not just the tyres that can be changed in an effort to reduce wear: the driver can too.
So read on as we take a closer look at how these cars work their rubber, as well as offer a few tips on how you can tread more carefully to make the most of the covers on your electrified wheels.
Putting the power down and dealing with the mass
As we’ve already mentioned, the basic physics suggests that an EV will wear out their tyres more quickly than equivalently sized and specified ICE cars.
The extra mass off these heavy cars puts extra stress on the tread even in steady state cruising, while the instant spike in torque from the electric motor means the rubber is working harder to maintain traction.
When it comes to mass, respected automotive testing organisation Emissions Analytics reckons that for every extra 450kg you add to a car’s kerb weight, tyre wear increases by 20%. Given that most ICE family cars tip the scales at around 1400kg and an equivalent EV is around 2000kg, that’s a big chunk of extra wear.
Then there’s an EV’s stronger acceleration: their motors’ ability to deliver 100% torque the moment you put your foot on the throttle puts the tread under increased stress as it tears into the road surface in an effort to translate all that energy into forward motion.
Yet what is true for going also applies to stopping and going around corners.
EVs use regenerative braking to help slow the car and feed otherwise lost energy into the battery. This is great news for the range and the traditional braking set-up, which doesn’t do as much work and so you save pad and disc wear, but the tyres are still under a fair amount of stress. Bringing 2000kg to a halt, particularly in a hurry, requires the rubber to work significantly harder than if it were 1500kg.
Attack a series of corners, even at moderate speed, and the tyres of an EV will experience greater lateral loads. Modern stability-control and torque-vectoring systems do a great job of disguising the mass from the driver, but ultimately the tyres are still trying to stop a great deal of mass from heading to the scene of the accident.
Many EVs feature a wider-section tyre for a greater contact patch, increasing overall grip, but the tread blocks and compound are working harder – and therefore wearing faster – than they would on lighter cars.
What’s the answer?
Tyre manufacturers are racing to find solutions to the specific challenges of EVs. The cynical among us might think that faster wearing tyres would be causing the bosses of rubber companies to be rubbing their hands with glee at the potential increase in revenues, but business doesn’t always work like that.
As a cash-strapped punter, are you going to fork out for the same set of boots when the previous set appears to have worn out prematurely or instead shop around for a potentially harder-wearing option? Exactly.
EV-specific tyres are already gaining traction (pun very much intended), but so far the emphasis has been on reducing rolling resistance for greater efficiency and increased sidewall strength to cope with heavier kerb weights. Engineers have also been working on reducing noise levels, with the lack of an internal combustion engine’s machinations resulting in occupants’ ears turning their attention to road noise and tyre roar.
A lot of work is now being done in the highly secretive area of compound technology, with tyre makers mixing different blends of rubber to improve longevity. Many brands are even looking at the application of nanocarbon and nanosilica, both of which have the potential to increase EV tyre life with no loss in performance.
As a result, almost every major tyre brand has an EV-specific tyre on its books, each claiming an increased lifespan. In fairness, this is often a comparison with standard, off-the-shelf rubber that could be fitted to any car regardless of motive power. Even so, the big hitters – such as Continental, Michelin and Pirelli – all claim to sell EV tyres that have pretty much eliminated that 20%-increased wear rate compared with an ICE car.
What can I do?
Much like fuel efficiency or electric range realisation, tyre wear is in some respects relative. Drive everywhere like your hair is on fire and, well, you’re likely to be rolling up to a tyre-fitting establishment rather sooner than Miss Daisy’s dedicated driver. As a result, there are things you can do to make your rubber go further.
As with driving quickly, smoothness is the key to increased tyre life. Caressing the controls is always going to put the rubber under less strain, especially when it comes to accelerating and braking. Just because an EV can do 0-60mph in 0.3sec and gives you every pound-foot of torque in the blink-of-an-eye, doesn’t mean you should summon all its efforts in one go.
And if you can’t resist, then consider engaging the car’s Eco drive mode, which softens the throttle response and, more often than not, reduces the power delivery.
The same is true of braking and cornering. By relying on greater anticipation and using the softer regen modes, you can slow the car more gently and so put less strain on the tyres.
Smoother and more precise steering inputs will also help reduce the load on the tyres. Sudden inputs on turn-in will put more instant stress on the tread, likely forcing it to scrub across the surface in an understeery state. And even with modern traction-control systems, a bootful of throttle mid-corner is going to have the tread blocks straining to maintain grip.
Then there’s the sensible stuff, like keeping an eye on tyre pressures. If you run them under- or over-inflated, you’re going to be promoting premature tyre wear. The same is true of poorly aligned suspension and steering, which will accelerate the reduction in tread depth – an issue that will be exacerbated by an EV’s extra mass compared with an ICE car.
Ultimately, EVs in their current form put more demands on tyres and, apart from a handful of pricier EV-specific tyres, do wear out their rubber quicker than many electric cars. However, the difference isn’t as great as it used to be and is reducing all the time. So choose carefully and alter your driving style a little and there’s no reason this could become a deal-breaker when looking to make the switch to electric power.
