In 1845, between the invention of a system for detonating explosives by electricity and the refillable fountain pen, a Scottish engineer and entrepreneur, Robert Thomson, patented the first pneumatic tire, a marvel at the time. Now an everyday thing that has been slowly evolving ever since.
Now, in the age of electric vehicles, they are in the spotlight more than ever. On the one hand, where passenger safety remains a priority, the right tires can have a significant impact on performance—and thus the range of your EV—but on the other hand, they’re also a source of noise and pollution.
As the conventional global tire market is worth more than $200 billion, and 2.5 billion tires are sold worldwide each year, manufacturers are wringing their hands over the impending death of clean-burning cars, and fashioning an ideal balance for the environment. Getting ready for battle to make. Credentials, performance, and performance that will make the perfect EV tire. Whoever wins will receive a substantial reward.
Rolling resistance or longevity?
Range optimization has been the main concern so far. According to Michelin, the difference in performance between good and bad tires can be as much as 7 percent. Better tires reduce rolling resistance, meaning the car will coast further before coming to a stop. So it will need less energy to cover the same distance. A 7 percent increase in efficiency will give an EV a lot more range—so, if it can go 300 miles with a bad tire, it will travel 321 miles with a good one.
“There are several tire components that can affect rolling resistance,” says Thomas Vanka, Continental’s principal technology development engineer. A company exploring EV tire design through its association with the electric motorsport series Extreme E. “Rubber compound and tread in them.”
Manufacturers are experimenting with nanomaterials in their tires, such as nanocarbon and nanosilica, to improve performance, traction and durability. Bio-based alternative compounds such as gyol and dandelion rubber are also being researched.
You can reduce rolling resistance by reducing the tread depth, but that also means the tire won’t last as long and makes more noise. Continental, however, thinks it has the answer. “We’ve developed special rubber compounds that allow us to reduce rolling resistance and noise at the same time without sacrificing mileage,” Wanka says.
