One of the many reasons electric vehicles are amazing is they can drive hundreds of emissions-free miles per charge. That said, an EV’s range could always be better; range anxiety is still a thing whether your car goes 130 miles or 300.
There are countless factors that contribute to an EV’s range, and most of them, such as a car’s shape, weight, and the efficiency of its motors, are largely out of your control. There is one way, though, to reliably increase your car’s range in every driving condition: upgrade to a set of EV-specific tires such as the iON line from Hankook Tires.
We’ll tell you the good news up front: you can expect your range to increase 6.3% by simply switching to a set of iON evo AS tires compared to traditional tires used on cars still powered by an internal combustion engine (ICE). That means your 130-mile EV gains over 8 miles of range and your 300-mile EV adds nearly 20 miles.
How can a simple set of tires pull off this magic trick? The answer is by reducing rolling resistance. What is rolling resistance? In basic terms, it’s the amount of friction between your tires and the road. The more friction there is, the quicker a car will slow down when it’s not accelerating.
Friction is a four-letter word for EVs. The goal of any EV is to transfer its energy into movement as efficiently as possible. The friction caused by high rolling resistance steals that energy away from its prime objective and converts it into grip and heat, thereby requiring your EV to expend even more energy to keep moving.
Of course, like life, a balance needs to be struck. Yes, when rolling resistance is too high, too much energy is being wasted on friction. However, when rolling resistance is too low, a tire may not have enough grip with which to keep the car on the road. Somewhere in the middle lies a perfect blend of traction and motion that keeps a car securely planted while also converting the maximum amount of its energy to movement. Enter the Hankook Tires iON line of tires.
Hankook iON tires are an upgrade over traditional tires in nearly every way. They’re specifically designed to overcome the four main challenges an EV presents: noise, tread life, grip, and rolling resistance. EVs are obviously quiet, which means road noise from their tires needs to be eliminated or else it’s the only thing a driver hears. And when it comes to tread life, EV tires have to be much stronger because EVs weigh, on average, 30% more than ICE cars. Grip, the opposite of low rolling resistance, is also important because electric motors generate so much torque; without it EVs would lay smoky burnouts at every stop light.
And then there’s rolling resistance. Hankook Tires uses good old fashioned Mother Nature to make iON tires more efficient in this regard. These tires are made with a special tread mixture that contains a high amount of natural resin. This not only ensures they’re more durable, but also reduces friction compared to conventional tires. The high percentage of natural oils in the mixture also makes iON tires more ecologically sustainable and improves the durability of the tire tread itself. Because of this increased resistance to wear, iON tires need less material than conventional tires for the same overall mileage, which makes them lighter overall. By reducing weight on the wheels, energy consumption goes down while efficiency and range increases.
Mother Nature may provide the first punch, but science comes in with the killer blow thanks to Hankook’s iON INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY. This process blends a unique tread structure design, optimized curing, a heat-minimizing tread pattern, and an optimal combination compound to further reduce energy loss and thus rolling resistance.
In addition to that 6.3% increase in range we mentioned, iON evo AS tires also provide 25% longer tread life, a 29% increase in noise reduction, and 20% improved driving stability compared to V-rated tires on a typical gas-powered car according to Hankook Tires’ internal testing. But you don’t have to take the company’s word for it. TÜV SÜD, an independent testing, inspection, and certification organization in Germany, rated these tires highest among four premium competitors. They were found to have the best dry braking, wet braking, wet lateral grip, snow acceleration, snow handling, and, of course, rolling resistance of the group.
The world of motorsport has heard how good iON tires are, as well. Formula E, the world’s pre-eminent all-electric open-wheel racing series, recently replaced Michelin as its official tire supplier with Hankook Tires for its Gen 3 race cars. Formula E race cars are now wearing iON Formula E tires, which share their technology with iON road tires.
Finally, it doesn’t matter how good the iON line of EV-specific tires are if there isn’t a set that fits your car and the conditions in which you drive it. Hankook Tires really excels here, offering iON tires across 7 separate product lines:
- iON evo AS: all-season performance tire for passenger cars and SUVs
- iON evo: summer sport tire for passenger cars and SUVs
- iON i*cept: alpine winter studless tire for passenger cars and SUVs
- iON FlexClimate: all-weather performance tire for passenger cars and SUVs
- iON Nordic ice: nordic winter studded tire for passenger cars and SUVs
- iON GT: summer touring tire for passenger cars and SUVs
- iON ST AS: all-season touring tire for passenger cars and SUVs
And Hankook Tires is adding more sizes to the iON line every day. The company plans on adding 49 more sizes by the end of 2024, bringing the total count up to 259 sizes. There should be an iON tire that fits every electric car, truck, and SUV on sale in America.
For many people, range is the most important factor when choosing which electric vehicle to buy. Until now that meant accepting the number of miles the manufacturer told you your EV would be capable of driving per charge. But now you know: you can lower your car’s rolling resistance by upgrading to a set of iON tires from Hankook Tires. Not only will you enjoy extra range, but your tires will last longer, roll quieter, and perform better than the traditional rubber your last car wore.
