Rolling resistance, durability and overall comfort all play a huge role in tire design, but these characteristics are under a bright-hot spotlight in the context of electric vehicle tires. That’s why Nokian Tyres recently revealed its “Electric Fit” symbol to showcase to customers that these attributes have been given special attention in select tires. The company uses a combination of factors, including tire compound, tread pattern and silencing technologies to optimize EV tire performance.
“Many of these characteristics are ones that we have been developing for the European tire [market] for a long time already, and many of these topics are actually such that they also happen to match with the requirements for EV cars,” says Marko Saari, head of product management at Nokian Tyres. “As a result of that, we have gained quite a long experience on getting all these different characteristics taken into account, and we can tap into this expertise when we are developing the tires.”
On this episode of What’s Treading with Tire Review, we pick Marko’s brain about the challenges of designing tires for electric vehicles, learn about how the European automotive market is influencing U.S. EV tires, get an understanding of the technology needed to eliminate noises in the cabin, and even delve into the company’s commitment to sustainability.
