I bought my first EV, the Volkswagen ID.4, a little over a year ago. I honestly love it, the acceleration, the pseudo self driving, and the range is pretty good too.

That is, until I got my first checkup. My car had about 17,000 miles on it. The technician notes that two of my tires almost need to be replaced. I must have had a weird look on my face when he replied that I was doing pretty well, since most are getting theirs replaced at 15,000 miles.

I did a little more digging and found out electric vehicle tires need to be replaced more frequently than a gas powered car. Compared to gas cars, EV tires wear out faster due to factors like higher torque, heavier battery packs, and less coasting during regenerative braking.

The tire manufacturer Michelin said conventional tires on electric vehicles consume tires 20 percent faster than on a gas-powered car but Goodyear also has said they could wear up to 50 percent faster.

Many tire manufacturers also have developed “low rolling resistance tires” engineered with the goal of going farther on a single charge or gallon of gas. Tires with low rolling resistance have thinner sidewalls and shallower tread blocks.Vs don’t coast—or roll freely—like conventional cars do. Force is almost always being applied to the wheels, either through the car’s electric motors or its regenerative braking system.

Environmental Issues

It’s not just your wallet that’s going to get hit. Scientists estimate that the US has the highest tire particle emissions in the world—7 to 12 pounds per person every year. So, if EV tires breakdown faster, we are adding more pollution to the environment faster.

Tires can be composed of well over 100 different raw materials. These are mixed and the rubber compounds are machined resulting is several components of the tire construction.

Some studies have shown that tires actually have more particle pollution than exhaust, 2,000 times as much. Increased tire wear can also contribute to air quality issues. In Oslo, Norway, where electric vehicles make two-thirds of registered vehicles but a higher proportion of traffic, the air has unhealthy levels of microscopic particles generated partly by the abrasion of tires and asphalt. The European Union is seeking to regulate microparticle emissions from tires, one of the leading sources of microplastics in the environment.

When it rains, stormwater washes trillions of tire particles into surrounding waterways. This stormwater contains a highly toxic chemical (“6PPD-quinone”) derived from vehicle tires at levels that are lethal to coho salmon and may pose risks to local steelhead. Two or three drops of water in an Olympic-size swimming pool — killed coho salmon within hours of exposure in laboratory tanks. The State of California is taking steps to reduce or eliminate the use of this chemical.

Better Options for EV Tires

ENSO has built a model around direct customer sales and environmental credentials. The company is the only tire maker to receive B Corp certification for its social and environmental performance.

Goodyear has taken a significant leap towards a sustainable future with the unveiling of its ElectricDrive Sustainable-Material (EDS) tire. Goodyear ElectricDrive 2 SCT is all-season tire is made from at least 50% sustainable materials and is designed to reduce rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag. It also has a foam insert to reduce road noise. The EDS tire includes elements like recycled polyester and carbon black, sourced from end-of-life tires. Goodyear also aims to eliminate petroleum-derived oils from its products by 2040.

Hankook Kinergy AS EV is made with vegetable oil resin from conifers to improve wet road performance, handling, and braking. 

ERANGE EV are made using environmentally friendly methods to reduce the environmental impact of tire production. They also deliver longer battery life.

Bridgestone's new Enliten technology aims to solve the wear-and-tear problem. Tires also affect range, so Bridgestone developed a new polymer, called PeakLife, that reduces rolling resistance. They unveiled a new tire developed specifically for electric vehicles called the Turanza EV. The new tire contains 50% renewable and recycled materials. It includes materials such as recycled carbon black, synthetic rubber from plastic bags and bottles, renewable soybean oil and rice husk silica from rice husks which were previously a waste product.

Continental also developed an EV-specific tire, which it calls the EcoContact 6.

Michelin recommends a number of tires for EV vehicles and has targeted 40% renewable and recyclable materials across all its tires by 2030, on the way to 100% fossil-free by 2050. Michelin has created a consortium called BlackCycle in which it is looking at developing a value chain locally in Europe around secondary raw materials—especially carbon black—to be used in new tires, rather than see the tires shipped across the world. 

Manufacturers are also experimenting with nanomaterials in their tires, such as nanocarbon and nanosilica, to improve performance, traction, and durability. There is also research into bio-based alternative compounds such as guayule and dandelion rubber.