Hankook debuts EV all-season tyre

The first European market Hankook all-season tyre aimed at electric vehicles arrives this month. The Hankook iON FlexClimate is a range for both cars and SUVs and initially comes to market in eight popular sizes. Hankook intends to expand the range in the short term to cover other common dimensions for 17- to 21-inch rim diameters.

Hankook says it uses the “latest technologies” to ensure iON FlexClimate delivers high performance for both summer and moderate winter driving conditions. The tyre maker claims excellent grip on wet surfaces, a particularly low rolling resistance compared to conventional tyres, and a construction that’s optimised for weight and yet extremely robust.

“With the new iON FlexClimate, we are fulfilling the wishes of many electric vehicle drivers for a tyre that offers outstanding performance the whole year round for this type of drive as well,” says Sanghoon Lee, president of Hankook Tire Europe. “Whether in dry weather, rain or snow, our new all-season tyres from the iON series deliver a very high level of driving safety, help to extend the range per battery charge, handle high vehicle weights with ease, and are very quiet into the bargain.”

Wet & snow performance

The tread features 3D sipes and Hankook says these “give the tyre outstanding grip on both wet and dry surfaces, and even in light snow.” At the same time, the new ProGrip tread compound “ensures optimised adhesion on wet surfaces” through a combination of high-density silica and other sustainable raw materials. Hankook also speaks of a high density of tread sipes for performance on snow, specifically 2-in-1 sipes in combination with additional grooves in the individual tread blocks to ensure traction and braking performance.

iON FlexClimate wears both M+S and 3PMSF markings and is therefore approved for year-round use in countries with additional rules covering winter driving.

Optimised for EVs

Hankook has addressed the typically higher weight of electric vehicles by giving iON FlexClimate a reinforced belt with extremely durable aramid fibres and even load distribution over the entire width of the tread. This enables a higher load index per tyre, effectively counteracting deformation forces at higher speeds and ensures steering precision and good cornering stability. In addition, the evenness of the load distribution reduces tread wear. Thanks to Grip Boost technology in combination with the aramid belt, the sidewall rigidity of the tyre has been increased by 20 per cent compared to the Hankook Kinergy 4S2 all-season tyre.

Outstanding rolling resistance

A tread compound with a high percentage of natural resin ensures “exemplary durability and reduced abrasion” compared to conventional products. Hankook says this provides high adhesion for “the grip needed to safely transfer the high drive torques of electric vehicles to the road.” A high percentage of natural oils within the compound not only make iON products more sustainable overall but also has a positive impact on tread durability.

“As a result, the Hankook iON FlexClimate needs less material than conventional tyres for the same overall mileage, which makes it lighter overall. This not only results in lower energy consumption when driving, but also reduces the amount of energy used in production.”

Thanks to “modern mixing process and Hankook Opti-Cure technology,” Hankook has also minimised tread block movement, further reducing energy loss and thus rolling resistance. It says this results in greater range per battery charge.

Low noise with i Sound Absorber

The absence of a combustion engine places the spotlight on other sources of noise. Therefore, the iON tyre family is equipped with Hankook i Sound Absorber technology and designed to be especially aerodynamic.

iON Innovative Technology

The iON FlexClimate additionally benefits from the newly introduced iON Innovative Technology, which is four key technologies that Hankook has introduced to further improve efficiency in research and development and in particular the company’s EV tyres. These four technologies are i Sound Absorber (noise), i Super Mileage (wear), i Perfect Grip (adhesion) and i Extreme Lightness (rolling resistance).

iON Innovative Technology is based on approximately 58 patented technologies that have been incorporated into the development of the iON tyre family, including patents for noise reduction and ProDurable compound technology, which ensures a long tyre life through an advanced material mix, and Round Even, which guarantees an extremely even contact pressure on the road.

Other technologies improve tyre adhesion, handling and rolling resistance. They include interlocking 3D Grip Claw sipes, the ProGrip compound as a combination of high-density silica and other, environmentally friendly materials, as well as ProCoupling, which achieves a finer silica distribution through an optimised mixture.

As is the case with the Hankook iON evo summer and ion i*cept winter tyres, the iON FlexClimate is also suitable for use on conventional vehicles with combustion or hybrid drive, where they “demonstrate their advantages compared to conventional tyres,” particularly in terms of energy consumption, noise level, resource conservation and durability.