Electric cars have heavy batteries, so they need tyres which can carry the extra weight. While the battery stores the energy, it’s the electric motor that provides the instant torque (and no sound inside the car!). With an electric vehicle, as soon as you press the accelerator, you immediately deploy 100% of the vehicle’s power. This means weight transfers are sharper, and a lot more intense than with a combustion-powered vehicle. This also affects the impact on wear and tear of the tyres.
No worries there: MICHELIN tyres take this into account, mostly in the structure of the tyres and its materials.
The second characteristic is noise. An electric car is silent, right? Without the noise of a combustion engine, the sound of the tyres on the road surface is much more noticeable in an electric car. So, manufacturers have to create tyres that are far quieter. Thus, perceived interior noise is reduced. For example: in an orchestra, when you have a drum and a flute playing at the same time you mostly hear the drum. But when the drum stops, the sound of the flute appears more clearly. The same happens when switching to an electric vehicle: the thermal engine which generates most of the noise is replaced by an almost-silent electric motor, and the noise of the tyres is more apparent.
For this reason, our innovative MICHELIN Acoustic technology found in some of our tyres, reduces the perceived noise level inside the car by up to 20%.(1) This makes your driving experience much more enjoyable, especially on the motorway.
The third characteristic specific to electric cars is the battery and its range, which needs to be taken into account, especially on long trips. Through rolling resistance, tyres contribute to electric consumption. As we'll see below, our tyres perform very well in this area.
