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Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 1:16 am
by Huskte
As many of the people on here will be converting vehicles with smaller rims than the modern 19+ inches, what options for ev specific tyres have people considered/used?

Personally for my use case a 17 inch rim would be preferable, and my main priority is minimal rolling resistance, but I'm still looking for something with good performance

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 4:53 am
by arber333
Huskte wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 1:16 am As many of the people on here will be converting vehicles with smaller rims than the modern 19+ inches, what options for ev specific tyres have people considered/used?

Personally for my use case a 17 inch rim would be preferable, and my main priority is minimal rolling resistance, but I'm still looking for something with good performance
DUNLOP 205/55R16 91V SPORT ALL SEASON for Peugeot
+ Low rolling resistance, good grip in wet
- higher wear

I will probably select something similar for Mazda as my winter tires are about gone...

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 5:35 am
by Ev8
Personally I just choose a tyre with a good fuel economy rating and a good price and then run true pressure higher than standard (this in the method vw use to get the impressive mpg figures on their blue motion range they use tyre pressures around 8 psi higher then the standard base model and then list the lower pressures in the handbook as a comfort option!)

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 5:46 am
by Huskte
arber333 wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 4:53 am DUNLOP 205/55R16 91V SPORT ALL SEASON for Peugeot
+ Low rolling resistance, good grip in wet
- higher wear

I will probably select something similar for Mazda as my winter tires are about gone...
i think i’m likely going to use summer tyres rather than all season so i’ll keep the summer version of that tyre in mind

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 5:47 am
by Huskte
Ev8 wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 5:35 am Personally I just choose a tyre with a good fuel economy rating and a good price and then run true pressure higher than standard (this in the method vw use to get the impressive mpg figures on their blue motion range they use tyre pressures around 8 psi higher then the standard base model and then list the lower pressures in the handbook as a comfort option!)
fair enough, although i wonder how much that affects grip

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 4:18 pm
by MattsAwesomeStuff
Pondering without calculating, your grip is probably inversely correlated with your rolling resistance. Any improvement you make to one, sacrifices the other. At least, on the same tire.

I'm using 13" rims on my little car, so, finding a modern tire is more a matter of yes/no than EV specific.

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 11:29 pm
by jrbe
We have tirerack here in the US. They do a lot of tire testing but their site sucks to search both in the site and in the Google for some reason. Their tests are surprisingly thorough and helpful if you haven't found them.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/te ... p?ttid=121

There are a bunch more but a lot seem to be 2 tires against each other.

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2023 1:39 pm
by Huskte
MattsAwesomeStuff wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 4:18 pm Pondering without calculating, your grip is probably inversely correlated with your rolling resistance. Any improvement you make to one, sacrifices the other. At least, on the same tire.

I'm using 13" rims on my little car, so, finding a modern tire is more a matter of yes/no than EV specific.
It does seem like some tyres have mastered both grip and rolling resistance, eg the hankook ion evos, but unfortunately they only come in sizes appropriate for monster trucks. So yes it seems mainly a decision between either factor.

Oh wow that’s tiny, what car is that for?

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2023 1:41 pm
by Huskte
jrbe wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 11:29 pm We have tirerack here in the US. They do a lot of tire testing but their site sucks to search both in the site and in the Google for some reason. Their tests are surprisingly thorough and helpful if you haven't found them.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/te ... p?ttid=121

There are a bunch more but a lot seem to be 2 tires against each other.
thanks, i’ll check that out

Re: Tyres for EVs?

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2023 2:18 pm
by Aragorn
Many EV tyres get the lower rolling resistance by having less tread. A bit of a scam if you ask me, as the rolling resistance of a normal tyre tends to improve as the tread wears down. And ofcourse they're not charging you less money for it.

Personally i pay no heed to "EV" marketing, and buy based on multiple third party review sites and group tests, and choose based on my chosen balance between price and performance. You can ofcourse toss up the various performance characteristics as they all trade off against each other. This is one big advantage of buying the more premium brands, they tend to manage that balance better, whereas the cheaper brands will often excel in one area with huge compromises elsewhere.

For an example, i was recently buying winter tyres for my Enyaq, and i took some time to consult this: https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/202 ... e-Test.htm (amongst others)

Wet grip being high on my list of considerations, i ended up with the Michelin Alpin 5's. They're a bit draggier than some of the others but did well in the other categories and i found a set for a very good price.

Be aware that some brands sell different tyres in different regions, tyrereviews.com is Europe centric.