Driving EV does not mean you will wear out tires faster..

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OneEV

OneEV

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UNLESS you dive on EV TIRES.

According to companies such as Michelin, tires on electric vehicles wear out up to 20% faster than on internal combustion vehicles. Electric vehicle tires are specifically designed with optimized tread patterns, rubber compounds and sound-absorbing foam.Feb 5, 2024


Has very little to do with accelrating faster etc and more to do with the diference in ev tire rubber compunds and tread pattern ..they are optimized for range and to run quiet.

Driving electric 4 years now , I never run EV tires, no reason to pay a premiun for a tire that doesnt last as long just to eeek out 1% extra range

IMO IMO IMO

I still have my cheap winter tires on because they are quiet (winter tires are thicker and softer than summer tires) they absorb more road noise . I will be removing them next week though. and yes you dont wont to run them middle of summer where the hot pavement will rip them apart sooner but here in Minnesota .. yeah a couple extra months after the snow not a big deal

I even got 3.6 m/kWh on them today taking a passenger to the airport 60-75mph . winter tires, 2 people , heat set @ 70F and 150 lbs of luggage .


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I drive on standard tires as well. I didn't see any marked performance improvement over the factory high-dollar LRR's. That being said, it's physics as well, and a 20% reduction in life sounds about right with a high end tire. I noticed my Sonata PHEV was worse than my Olds. The Niro/Kona are worse than the Sonata. I think it's mostly the weight and weight distribution, and then the extra torque of an EV , just kicks it in the teeth a bit. I don't think the shorter lifetime is enough for you to really pay that much attention. To that point, something is always trashing a tire here and there, and I'm going to buy tires more often than the warranty period. I was on a trip in my NiroEV and picked up a large lag bolt close to the sidewall. That means TWO medium quality tires, $200+ after only 20,000 miles. No different from an ICE, so by the time you factor in everything that 20% gap is going to close down, because the lab is never like the real world. Most people wouldn't make tire wear a key deciding factor unless it was way out.
 
My Bridgestone ECOPIA (no longer available) were rated at 60,000 miles and the tread still measures great!

One of my first Tesla experiments was to measure the weight at a truck stop CAT scale. With me, two small dogs, ~50 lb tool box, and OEM rims and tires, it came in at 3,800 lbs. There are a boat-load of heavier ICE vehicles tearing up our roads.

Now I just buy weight appropriate, long lasting tires . . . when I need a pair.

I don't 'rotate' tires because it can mask tread patterns revealing an alignment problem. But when one of the rear tires wears down too low, I order a replacement pair from Tire Rack drop shipped to a walking distance Firestone shop. When they come in, I drop off my spare rims and have them:
  1. Dispose of the worn out, spare rim tires.
  2. Mount and balance the new tires on the spare rims.
  3. Move front tires to rear.
  4. Install the new tires on the front.
  5. Put the former rear rims and worn out tires in the car.
  6. Do a four wheel alignment.
  7. Return to check the alignment metrics, pay, and pickup the car.
  8. Use their air hose to re-inflate the tires.
Bob Wilson
 
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I think it depends on both the driver and the tire quality. Interesting that Bob Wilson had his Ecopias last for so long. My 2018 Leaf came equipped with those and by the time I traded in at 90,000kms (about 55,000 miles) they were pretty well done. Considering they were only on the car about 7 months a year this wasn't so great. And I'm more of a hypermiler than a lead footer except when the light turns orange!

My winter tires were Goodyears on steel rims which I bought for my first Leaf in 2016. Carried them on with my second Leaf and the tread was in great shape at trade in. However, they were approaching 8 years age and starting to show fine cracks in the sidewalls. They were noisier than the Ecopias but not the usual rumble one associates with winter tires. It was a prominent "whirring" sound.

I now have a VW id.4 and am running on Michelin X-ice. Only a little over 4,000kms so to soon to pass any judgement on lifespan.
 
I always respect those sharing personal experience and not just cut-and-paste a 3d party report. Sure, some of those reports can be useful . . . if you read all of it.

Bob Wilson
 
I'm not sure exactly what the OP means, but my experience is that the EVs that I have driven over the past eight years need tires more often than my gas cars did. I always assumed it was because they were heavier.
 
Mark W said:
I'm not sure exactly what the OP means, but my experience is that the EVs that I have driven over the past eight years need tires more often than my gas cars did. I always assumed it was because they were heavier.
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Mark have your evs always run on EV Tires, thats the isse, they are designed for efficiency not for long term wear.
 
OneEV said:
Mark have your evs always run on EV Tires, thats the isse, they are designed for efficiency not for long term wear.
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It's been a mixture. When replacing tires, I'm not sure exactly what makes a tire an EV tire. I just try to buy all around good tires, not EV specific ones. Are you saying that an extra 1000 pounds on a vehicle doesn't affect tire wear? A RAV4 is 3,400 pounds and a same size bz4X is 4,300 pounds.
 
Mark W said:
Are you saying that an extra 1000 pounds on a vehicle doesn't affect tire wear? A RAV4 is 3,400 pounds and a same size bz4X is 4,300 pounds.
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The instant torque has to be wearing on tires too, that's gotta cause a lot of quick rubbing when changing speeds. My SE is one of the lighter EVs, but the tires are wearing pretty quickly.

While I don't have EV-specific tires, the Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 3s I've been riding on are extremely low rolling resistance. I went to a second set after about 65,000 miles but I alternate with snow tires, so I'm probably getting around 30,000 miles on my tires.

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Mark W said:
It's been a mixture. When replacing tires, I'm not sure exactly what makes a tire an EV tire. I just try to buy all around good tires, not EV specific ones. Are you saying that an extra 1000 pounds on a vehicle doesn't affect tire wear? A RAV4 is 3,400 pounds and a same size bz4X is 4,300 pounds.
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Too many factors than just the weight. Weight distribution is important, and are the tires the same size? Smaller the diameter the faster it will wear. But assuming a 1:1 on wear:weight use 3400/4300 =.79 call it 4 sets on the EV for every 3 on the ICE worst case, which is probably somewhat aggressive. This is the problem with the cost argument, and the one about tire dust, it's just plain silly. I drove an old car that would not stay in alignment. Tore (bias ply, I'm old) tires up on a regular basis. Cheaper than a new car at the time. It's all relative. EV is somewhat more abusive of tires, enough to notice, not enough to attract undue attention.

The other thing is much of the tech that goes into EV's ends up in an ICE. I mean it's not like you don't want a few extra MPG out of an ICE because you put won't put a better LRR tire on it. Payback is not as significant, but it exists.
 
I've found 'normal' tyres to significantly decrease range. About 25% for conti ECS02 compared to my Hankook OE tyres. That works out at about 25lb more rolling resistance. That's despite the ECS being 'designed for EVs'. Unfortunately, in the US it's impossible to find out rolling resistance for tyres without buying some and measuring it :-( I've found my winter Nokian WR-G4s barely affect range in equivalent conditions to running summer tyres. I've done 4.2 mi/kWh in falling and settling light snow. OE summers in warm dry weather would have been high 4s at similar speed, ECS02 warm and dry, mid to high 3s... Rain really hurts range for all tyres. I'm pretty sure this is due to the tyres evicting water rapidly from underneath. I'm not seeing high wear on daily driver tyres, unlike my autocross tyres...
 
A thought i had on tire wear-- ReGen braking.

There is significantly less 'coasting' time in an ev vs ice. any force, acceleration or deceleration is going to cause more wear on the tire as it's being forced to do something that is not the natural flow.
 
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