What Is The Difference Between Electric And Traditional Car Tires? The Most Important Differences And Features

Car Tires: With the increasing popularity of electric cars, we will take a look at the type of tires these cars use and how they differ in design from those used for traditional Car Tires or internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. But before going into those details, we must first mention the challenges these tires face. It must deal with the additional weight of electric cars, and must be efficient, quiet, and able to dampen the enormous instantaneous torque of electric cars.

The weight of Car Tires

We’ll start with the most obvious factor, weight. Unsurprisingly, electric cars are heavy, having to carry around a few hundred kilograms of batteries which often weigh upwards of 400kg to achieve a record range of 483km, and even with the weight saved by using the electric motor the overall weight The car is still higher compared to conventional cars.

Which means that we have a high load placed on a narrow surface because electric car tires must be dynamic and efficient. According to some studies, the tire itself will wear out 20% faster in an electric car than in a conventional car. The rigidity of the tire must therefore be increased, especially when it comes to the lateral load placed on the tire during cornering.

Hankook is one company that has done a great job in this area with their iON range of electric vehicle tires which have 25% better lateral rigidity.

Another aspect that helps estimate the expected mileage of electric car tires is their contact patch which is flatter, which helps distribute the load more evenly across it.

However, the compound that goes into making the tires is just as important, as a harder compound will increase the lifespan of the tires. Things are difficult regarding this topic as no manufacturer is willing to divulge its secret. But we know that electric vehicle tire compounds contain raw materials such as high-loading resin and silica.

To summarize the above, we can say that the tire must match the type of car. Putting an electric car tire on an internal combustion engine car will sacrifice comfort, but putting a regular tire on an electric car will sacrifice ease of control and durability.

Efficiency

It is one of the most important aspects when it comes to electric vehicles. When it comes to tires, this is reflected in the rolling resistance coefficient. This is where small changes can make a big impact since lower efficiency means a larger battery is needed which in turn increases weight and reduces efficiency even further.

Most of the improvement in rolling resistance comes from tire treatment and vulcanization . Vulcanization is a process of heating rubber in the presence of sulfur, which leads to the formation of a new compound capable of withstanding temperature fluctuations and is more durable unlike regular rubber.

Therefore, this process is very important and very complex, as it is difficult to actually achieve ideal homogeneity, and companies are conducting many researches on additional materials. Which must be included in the mixture.

Then there is frame curing which means heating the frame while pressing it into a mold. This not only gives the tire its final shape, but also ensures a good bond between it and the reinforcing compounds within the structure. It is also a complex process as each company develops its own ideal process.

One would naturally think that a larger contact patch would increase rolling resistance. True, but the increase is negligible and negligible. Most importantly, the larger contact patch allows pressure to be more evenly distributed across it, reducing the aforementioned resistance.

The noise

Since electric vehicles do not have any kind of combustion under the hood they are therefore quieter which in turn means that any other noise becomes immediately more noticeable. So what can tire manufacturers do?

In fact, there is a lot for tire manufacturers to do in this area.

There are two features that contribute to sound absorption and vibration. Let’s start from the outside, with a really cool feature found in the Hankook iON tires. Inside the water channels there is a zigzag pattern that helps break up and absorb the resulting resonance inside the groove.

Another external feature of electric car tires is the presence of dilated side grooves that begin to narrow and expand towards the outer tire. This design is intended to allow water to drain while preventing noise.

There’s also something called polyphonic sequencing, which sounds like what a musician might use to compose a catchy song. However, what it means is that the side grooves are unevenly spaced. This disrupts the rhythmic, consistent nature of the noise. With some clever engineering, this design can be improved to reduce overall noise.

On the other hand, the interior of the tires does not have many innovations. However, the tire contains a foam padding that helps absorb vibrations caused by rolling the tires. This thus prevents this vibration from being transmitted up the wheel through the suspension system and then into the body and cabin.

Torque

When it comes to torque, not only do electric vehicles have a lot of it, they dampen it down faster than their conventional counterparts. Thanks to the batteries, there is some additional weight, which gives the car greater mechanical grip which in turn helps acceleration.

But there’s also the issue of stopping this extra weight, so EV tires must be able to provide as much longitudinal stability as possible both when accelerating and decelerating. This brings us back to stiffness and there are some tricks to electric car tires.

The most important part is the internal structure. Among the technologies that contribute to this are non-articulating bead wires (which help the tire stay attached to the wheel in high-load scenarios), a pleated rim strip (which helps strengthen the sidewall), and a high-strength steel belt (intended for shock absorption) along with a layer of Fibrous frame reinforcement material (with an important role in sidewall rigidity) and the tire compound itself, these factors provide increased rigidity. Another key feature of electric car tires is the wide center rib pattern which allows the tire to benefit from increased traction.

Conclusion

Despite the challenges posed by the traditional characteristics of electric cars, there are solutions, and combining them leads to great results. Technology is always improving, and if it is taken into account when designing the framework, the challenges we talked about can be overcome.

However, there are two caveats. EV tires are more expensive, with some models costing more than $300 per tire, similar to the tires used on a sports car or luxury car. However, they will wear out faster than those found in conventional cars.

One solution may be to use runflat tires. However, this is also not recommended, as not only do they add unnecessary weight, but they are also not designed to do the job. Although it benefits from a reinforced sidewall, similar to electric car tires, its structure is not designed to support the increased mass of an electric vehicle. We must also take into account traction and the importance of the contact patch, which are also not taken into account when companies design regular runflat tires.

Considering that more and more affordable EV tires will appear on the market, this will create competition and quickly bring down the average price of EV tires with decent performance.