Video - Do smaller wheels actually increase range?

[Andre Laurence]

In case you missed the video that we released last Friday... Can you increase the range of your EV with a simple change? Yes, it costs money, but the change is significant.

 

[Steadfast]

It is only significant if you spend a lot of time on the highway. (Correction: around town) On the highway, the difference is minimal. The difference is the speed you are travelling and the larger and heavier tires and wheels are what makes the difference.

 

[bwilson4web]

There is a geometric challenge. Distance is usually wheel rotation counted. So the revolutions per mile is how cars tell how far a car has gone. Mount tires with a lower revs/mile and the calculated MPG is off (and speedometer.) For example, a smaller diameter wheel will indicate more miles traveled than true over the same route … better MPG.

A better metric is a GPS based speed and MPG metric BUT such software is too hard for most automobile ‘coders.’

Bob Wilson

 

[Andre Laurence]

It is only significant if you spend a lot of time on the highway. Around town the difference is minimal. The difference is the speed you are travelling and the larger and heavier tires and wheels are what makes the difference.

Actually that is not correct. Most of my savings come from the fact that thses wheels are much, much lighter, which means less rotational mass and intertial resistance. In both of my EVs, I did the same thing on my previous EV, most of my savings actually came from city driving and it is a significant amount. I talk about it in this video.

 

[Andre Laurence]

There is a geometric challenge. Distance is usually wheel rotation counted. So the revolutions per mile is how cars tell how far a car has gone. Mount tires with a lower revs/mile and the calculated MPG is off (and speedometer.) For example, a smaller diameter wheel will indicate more miles traveled than true over the same route … better MPG.

A better metric is a GPS based speed and MPG metric BUT such software is too hard for most automobile ‘coders.’

Bob Wilson

Hi Bob, that is why you should never change the overall diameter of the wheel. I talk about this in the video. When you down size the wheel you have to increase the tire diameter to compensate. There is no difference in my speedometer or odometer because my overall wheel diameter has not changed.

 

[bwilson4web]

I find the best practice is to compare App GPS metrics with the vehicle indicated.

Bob Wilson

 

[Steadfast]

Actually that is not correct. Most of my savings come from the fact that thses wheels are much, much lighter, which means less rotational mass and intertial resistance. In both of my EVs, I did the same thing on my previous EV, most of my savings actually came from city driving and it is a significant amount. I talk about it in this video.

Did I get it backwards? Ha!

I was thinking about this as I had typed my response. I was going my memory and I was questioning myself as I posted my comment because it didn't make sense when I thought about inertia.