From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Philip Bratby
I knew it would be bad, but not this bad!
Electric car buyers should be aware of the “astronomical” costs required to regularly replace short-lived tyres, owners have warned.
Car lover Jim Bassett managed just 7,500 miles in his brand new Volkswagen ID.3 before being quoted more than £300 to replace the rear rubber.
The 80-year-old stumped up the cash after being told it was common practice for tyres on his rear-wheel model to degrade rapidly due to the weight of the vehicle .
Due to its heavy battery, the £35,000 hatchback weighs around 1,800kg – the same as a Jeep Wrangler 4×4.
Fellow ID.3 owners have taken to online forums to also complain of short tyre life, blaming degradation on the hefty weight and instant torque of the car.
Mr Bassett, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, said: “I couldn’t believe it when I was told they needed replacing.
“I’m quite old and have had cars all my life – I’ve never had to change tyres this early, it’s normally been at around 25,000 miles.
“It amazed me, as at 7,500 miles tyres are virtually new.
“The VW dealership expressed no surprise or concern that they needed replacing so soon, saying that ‘the car is rear-wheel drive and very heavy’.”
The strain on EV tyres comes as a result of both the extra weight and higher torque, the twisting power that launches a car from a standing start.
Road safety charity Tyresafe said: “All that power at any speed in a heavy vehicle means if the driver regularly accelerates hard, the tyres are put under tremendous strain, fighting to grip the road and not spin.”
Due to the greater acceleration speed, manufacturers advise drivers to be delicate on the throttle to prolong tyre life.
Volkswagen, which first launched the ID.3 in 2019, said that driver performance is the key factor impacting tyre wear.
A spokesman said: “Tyre longevity is influenced by a wide range of factors, most importantly the way in which the vehicle is driven, for example, hard cornering, braking and acceleration can cause more wear than gentle driving.”
VW also said that “types of road surfaces, temperature, correct maintenance of tyre pressures; care when parking; and the amount of load the vehicle carries” all impact the level of degradation.
Tyre manufacturer Michelin has previously said that conventional tyres wear out around 20pc faster in an electric vehicle, while Goodyear said they can degrade as much as 50pc faster.
Last year, research by technology firm Epyx found that, on average, tyres fitted to EVs lasted 6,350 fewer miles than those on petrol or diesel cars. The first tyre change for electric cars takes place after an average of 17,985 miles, compared to 24,335 miles for petrol and diesel cars.
Tyre makers are continuing to develop bespoke EV rubber suited to the heavier vehicles, but they can come at a greater cost for drivers. Epyx found that the average tyre cost £207 for larger electric vehicles – £77 higher than the cost for larger petrol cars.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
This is just like the wind turbines, everyone thinks they are saving the planet but the hubris of this thinking is staggering. The extra weight of the vehicle is a major factor in the tyre wear and where does all that discarded rubber and synthetic materials go? Yes into the waterways and into the soil.
There are studies that point to wind turbines doing a lot of damage to nature but we can’t mention that because of the “greater good”.
Just for the record I drive a Suzuki Vitara ICE, it’s light and quiet economical with tyres lasting about 18,000 miles.
18,000 miles is very poor performance for tires on an ICE car. You should be getting at least 35,000, and probably more like 50,000 miles. I used to get 50,000 miles on a set of Pirelli Scorpions on a BMW X3.
In other words, EVs cost more than ICEVs in every category. iSee Cars survey also showed EVs cost 64% more for every 1000 mis. driven since they’re driven less than their gas counter parts. In addition, their average price is $5000 more, and the newer semi-proven technology on them is more prone to unreliability, which is also a factor in low resale values. Yet governments want to ram them down consumers’ throats because they” help save the planet, except consumers are wise enough to recognize a con-job when they see one. That’s the reason EVs sales are experiencing steady declines during the past few years.
“EVs sales are experiencing steady declines during the past few years”
Slowing of the growth is not a decline.
EV sales are experiencing slowing down of the growth.
Part of the answer is in how hybrids are counted.
And synthetic rubber takes about 5 gallons of oil to make one tire.
“instant torque of the car”
and
“The strain on EV tyres comes as a result of both the extra weight and higher torque”
Can’t get away from The Other Side of the Story. I don’t want an EV myself, but anyone who talks about zero-to-sixty times once in a while should know EVs are awesome at fast acceleration.
Clearly we need to scrap oxygenated carbon taxing for pneumatic tyre taxing-
Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs – CBS News
That’ll fix the hooning and virtue signalling plus the potholes.
Something is wrong here. 1,800kg is 3,968 pounds (US). I have a 2013 Avalon Hybrid with a curb weight of 3,594 lbs (1,630kg). I bought it used at 55,000 miles with what I believe were original tires (they were factory OEM standard). I replaced all four at 78,000 miles with the identical OEM brand/model and have driven 33,000 miles on the new set and as of last rotation check (last week) I have plenty of life left on all four.
If tires are properly sized for the vehicle weight, driven moderately on decent roads, and wheel alignment is verified at the specified intervals, I see no reason EV owners shouldn’t get 40-50 K miles out of a quality set.
The article claims the EV in question is “rear wheel drive”; Edmunds lists the ID.4 as coming in both single and dual-motor configurations. If the dual-motor configuration works like Tesla’s that means it is effectively an all-wheel drive with the front/back motors synchronized electronically rather than a mechanical transfer case used on internal combustion 4WD/AWD vehicles. All cars have a differential axle to allow the left and right powered wheels to turn at different speeds as the car turns, as with a solid axle the outside wheel would be turning faster than the inside one and that stress would be taken out on the tires. The differential also compensates for slightly different tire diameters, which you get if you replace just one tire of the driving pair.
The same issue arises in 4WD/AWD vehicles between the front and back axles. In older part-time 4WD vehicles 4WD is only engaged off-road where the natural slip in the tire-to-surface contact absorbs any mismatch in front/back wheel speeds. In AWD vehicles, either there is a differential in the transfer case (which imposes additional mechanical losses and hence increases fuel consumption), or the owner’s manual will warn you you must replace all four tires with a matched set at the same time. A co-worker with an AWD Dodge Challenger ran into this with ZR-rated tires — ouch! The issue is discussed briefly here.
So what might be going on in this case is the electronic synchronization is not allowing any front/rear speed disparity and consequently causing excessive wear. If you kick the process off with frequent quick starts, I can understand how tire life could end up unreasonably short.
This is not unique to EVs; it is a risk with any AWD vehicle.
“Tyre manufacturer Michelin has previously said that conventional tyres wear out around 20pc faster in an electric vehicle, while Goodyear said they can degrade as much as 50pc faster.”
What is this unit “pc?” Is that supposed to be “percent?” You know, there’s a symbol for that: “%.”
What the heck?