Yokohama recently joined the ranks of brands with a symbol denoting a tyre’s suitability for electric vehicles. This is the E+ sidewall marking, which Yokohama Rubber debuted on the Yokohama Advan Sport EV last year. The tyre maker is now extending the E+ mark to commercial tyres, initially on two Yokohama bus tyre models, one sold in the European market and one in Japan.
Kumho entered the replacement electric vehicle tyre market in 2016 with its Wattrun VS31, a tyre that was an early forerunner of the current wave of products designed to meet the particular needs of battery-powered cars. The tyre garnered both the prestigious German Red Dot Design Award and American Green Good Design accolades, demonstrating the Korean manufacturer’s innovation in that field. The Wattrun VS31 has now been superseded by the Ecsta PS71 EV, the company’s next generation electric vehicle tyre.
More and more tyre manufacturers are adding individual EV logos to their product sidewalls, regardless of their decision to develop specialist tyres for the burgeoning market or make tyres they consider compatible with the needs of electric cars. Goodyear recently presented a corresponding label, products from Continental are “EV Compatible”, Pirelli tyres contain “Elect”, and “E+”. can be found on relevant Yokohama tyres. While Nokian Tyres introduced a so-called “Electric Fit” symbol, intended to indicate its tyres’ suitability for electric vehicles, last summer, the marking remains absent from its most recent products’ sidewalls. Surprisingly, even the supplier’s very latest products, the Powerproof 1 and Wetproof 1 summer car tyres, the “Electric Fit” designation cannot be seen on the sidewall or anywhere else. With Nokian Tyres claiming that all of its consumer tyres are suitable for electric vehicles, Tyrepress sister website Reifenpresse asked what this was all about.
Electric off-road racing championship Extreme E has renewed its partnership with official tyre supplier Continental. The two parties signed an extension agreement on 11 January, a gesture that Extreme E says “solidifies the commitment of both organisations as they continue to advance the world of sustainable motorsport and environmental awareness.”
Continental has won a new tyre supply deal for BMW’s latest 5 Series. The tyre manufacturer will supply the SportContact 7 for sporty driving, the energy efficient EcoContact 6 Q summer tyre, and the WinterContact TS 860 S winter tyre after its products were approved for the entire series, including the all-electric i5.
An analysis of MOT failure data suggests that independent garages should consider how best to service demand for electric vehicle tyres. Matt Cleevely, managing director of Cleevely Electric Vehicles (EV), said the company is stocking a growing inventory of EV-specific tyres, with around 100 sales every month. This is on the back of new data analysis by Garage Industry Trends, which reveals that half of all EV MOT failures on vehicles registered after 2016 relate to tyres – almost double that of a diesel. Additionally, almost 60 per cent of EV advisories relate to tyre condition.
To inform prospective customers that its entire current and upcoming passenger tyre range is “optimised to deliver exceptional performance for electric and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles,” Goodyear has introduced a new sidewall logo. This Goodyear EV-Ready logo will appear on all replacement tyres from the beginning of 2024.
The electric vehicle (EV) revolution faces a critical challenge as the low-carbon transition hinges on sufficient battery production. Potential raw material shortages loom large, threatening to disrupt the demand-supply balance. The success of this green transition necessitates addressing these supply chain concerns to ensure a seamless and sustainable future for EVs and the broader low-carbon agenda, says data and analytics company GlobalData.
Firestone has launched the new Roadhawk 2 Enliten summer touring tyre. The Bridgestone brand says the new model offers “best-in-class wet grip” as well as longer mileage and a greater than 10 per cent reduction in rolling resistance, optimising fuel or energy consumption, based on internal testing on size 225/55 R17 101W. The integration of Bridgestone’s Enliten technology, which reduces material consumption and tyre weight, as well as using the new NanoPro-Tech high-silica compound for greater wear resistance, ensures the Roadhawk 2 Enliten is an “EV-ready tyre”: a tyre suitable for fitment on vehicles using and electric or conventional combustion engine powertrain. The new tyre will be available from January 2024 in 17-21” sizes to cover 90 per cent of the market. After the addition of 16” sizes in 2025, the range will comprise 112 size variations. The Firestone Roadhawk 2 Enliten is the successor to the Roadhawk summer touring tyre.
The Polestar 0 project aims to create a climate-neutral car by 2030, eliminating all sources of CO2 emissions throughout the vehicle’s supply chain, manufacturing processes and end of life without offsetting them. Nokian Tyres has joined the project and is developing climate-neutral tyres for the car.
Why survey people when you can draw upon all the wisdom of the internet? Hankook Tire & Technology has turned to artificial intelligence to gain insights into consumer attitudes towards electric vehicles, developing a Voice of Customer (VOC) analysis system based upon ChatGPT for this purpose. The Korean firm collaborated with data cloud computing companies Amazon Web Services and Snowflake to build an integrated VOC data analysis system.
Hankook Tire & Technology reports consolidated sales of KRW 2,340.0 billion (£1.4 billion) and an operating profit of KRW 396.3 billion (£243.9 million) for Q3 2023. These results respectively represent year-on-year increases of 1.8% and 106%.
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.
Yokohama will exhibit its electric vehicle-compatible and sustainable technologies at the Japan Mobility Show 2023, (Tokyo Big Sight’s East Hall 2 in Koto-ku, Tokyo, 26 October to 5 November). The manufacturer’s booth has been assembled under the theme, ‘Yokohama: Creating the Tires of the Future’, with a focus on the company’s latest and future tyre technology developments. These will include tyre mounted sensors, as well as the concept aerodynamic Advan A50 fin tyre, and the Japanese premiere of the Advan Sport EV, Yokohama’s newly launched dedicated high performance tyre for electric vehicles.
Hyundai has opted to fit Hankook’s Ventus S1 evo 3 ev tyres to its Ioniq 6 as standard. The tyre is developed specifically for electric cars, featuring low rolling resistance and a lightweight, robust construction to meet the specific requirements of all-electric vehicles, such as the Ioniq 6. The tyre is supplied in size 225/55R18W.
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