Electric car drivers face astronomical costs to replace tyres
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.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Well some cars only go 31 miles in their lifetime:
And of course all the tyre wear produces lots of pollution, not to mention all the potholes the heavy EVs cause.
Physics is no respecter of eco virtue signalling.
Moving greater mass = extra energy = greater wear on all moving parts.
The carnival float of Net Zero hits the tank-stopping bollards of reality
VW ID.3 is one of the less efficient EVs and so they have to use larger batteries to get a decent range. Better off with Tesla/Kia/Hyundai or for a runabout one of the Stellantis models.
Or a proper car that doesn’t pollute the air with brake dust and rubber particles and produce waste tyres that are impossible to do anything with at 2-3 times the rate of sn ICE car.
But who cares about the environment when you have virtue to signal?
My EV is over 20k and will need the first set of replacement tyres sometime in the next few months. Hardly ever use brakes so don’t see any brake dust.
Most people on the Tesla forum seem to get about 25-30k but some get quite a bit less, so I think it very much depends on the sort of miles.
I used to get a bit more mileage on my BMW but that was mostly motorway cruising and on very expensive run-flats.
Hydrocarbons … plants love them, water and CO2 … just the ticket. Electric Milk Floats … and their lithium fires … just what plants hate.
Sounds like Jim has had a good time.
If he hadn’t been told it was common practice (sic), he wouldn’t have ‘stumped up the cash?’
A new metric!
“What is that in Jeep Wrangler 4x4s?”
They demand VW remove some weight and reduce the torque.
Recall pending.
A “new metric” >>> Two teams of USA footballers, without the centers.
Yeah ,it’s your fault. Not the car or the roads but the way you – a sensible driver for all of your driving life – is suddenly hammering on the throttle and sliding around corners thanks to your new eWheels.
Neither EVs nor the lies forcing them upon us are sustainable in the long term.
CK
Gamecock thinks “suddenly hammering on the rheostat.”
Okay, “throttle” sounds better. We can call it a metaphor.
With a diesel, do you “Step on the oil?”
Increased mass x velocity = increased kinetic energy.
That means increased braking.
When the car hits something, that increased energy has to go somewhere.
Increased mass x velocity^2 = increased kinetic energy.
Y’all discount regenerative braking.
They do indeed
TUV tests in Germany failed a lot of battery cars on the brakes. I presume that this is due to lack of use with regenerative braking and so when tested they fail to create enough force.
Er, velocity squared, actually.
In my experience (USA) driving standard size autos and trucks (F150 or Chevy Silverado) the original tires will last about 35,000 miles. At replacement time, I go for the next higher grade, usually meant to last about 55,000 miles.
“There is a general consensus that most tires should be inspected, if not replaced, at about six years and absolutely be swapped out after 10 years, regardless of how much tread they have left.”
Biden brings new meaning to military battery
“One of the things I found out as President of the United States, I get to spend a lot of that money,” Biden said. “We’re going to start the process where every vehicle in the United States military, every vehicle, is going to be climate-friendly — every vehicle — I mean it.”
https://realclimate.science/2024/05/23/climate-friendly-war/copyq-wedetv/
total cost of ownership is what matters.
Tires are bad for the environment, particularly tires that are not fully synthetic (use natural rubber, leading to deforestation in parts of Asia). So, one should perhaps consider working on software that drives EVs to reduce rapid acceleration that these cars are innately capable of.
The reason to support EVs has nothing to do with the climate. It has to do with the scarcity of oil. If one wanted to extend North American consumption of oil per capita to 8 billion people, world oil production would have to increase by ~600%. To the EU level, ~300%. It will do neither.
Having said the above, car culture is generally bad for the environment. If you want to do something for the planet, use public transport even at a cost of some inconvenience to yourself, where it is still practical and available.
What is this “bad for the environment” you speak of?
many tires still include an admixture of “natural rubber” which is derived from the Para rubber tree. As the demand for rubber grows, native forests are being cleared to make room for the industrial scale plantations of the rubber tree. Automobile tires can perhaps be made without natural rubber, aviation tires still cannot.
Whah! Whah!
Scarcity of oil?
Global oil and natural gas reserves both increase
Dec. 4, 2023
At the end of 2023, the world’s proven oil reserves reached 1,754.6 billion bbl, an increase from the previous year’s 1,746.8 billion bbl, according to OGJ’s annual assessment.
https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/economics-markets/article/14302481/global-oil-and-natural-gas-reserves-both-increase
if one wanted to extend North American consumption of oil per capita to 8 billion people, world oil production would have to increase by ~600%. To the EU level, by ~300%. Neither will happen. There are two types of consequences for the oil dependent world. In the developed world, there is a steady downward pressure on living standards. In the developing world, there is a lid on development that is available. Politicians helpfully translate this reality for you into a message of conflict. It has got to be someone’s fault right? I, and only I, can fix it. The reality underneath is resource scarcity, relative to potential demand.
as far as proven reserves go, they have been barely increasing for at least 10 years now. Current proven reserves would last ~50 years **at current consumption levels**. This is hardly reassuring for the oil dependent world, given the unrealized demand that would have to be provided for economic growth in the developing world.
Furthermore, there is a question of the cost of extraction of any additional reserves. The cost of extraction can be roughly translated into the fraction of each barrel that can be used for a purpose other than the extraction, processing and transport. You can be assured that extracting oil from the arctic will cost quite a bit more than extracting oil from the Middle East.
The economy is a complicated beast. Nonetheless, numbers are numbers.
OMFG! What a stupid assumption, mf. The future will deal with the future. We have no moral duty, nor the ability, to deal with the future. Stick a sock in it.
There is no public transport to where I want to go to!
then try to do something about it.
Why, mf? We are doing fine without public (sic) transportation.
Quite agree. Must be 40 years since I went on a bus or train!
Teaef,
this is true for all rural areas, public transport is a non starter.
Mf thinks differently but obviously has no concept of the more than astronomical cost to provide city like service in a sparsely populated area.
car culture is generally bad for the environment.
For many, a car = freedom.
true, except for traffic jams. What you might think about though is: I am a big space travel fan. I would like to go to the moon. Maybe also to Mars or Europa. Enjoy the amazing views there.
Does not mean that I can.
I always wanted a Lotus Europa.
true, except for traffic jams.
The level of traffic jams on UK roads is primarily a result of incompetent planning, which led to insufficient funds for construction. There is a case to be made that increased road construction = increased GDP per head.
Equating interplanetary travel with driving on roads is a biiiiig stretch of the imagination.
more than £300 to replace the rear rubber
Damn cheap to me. ‘Astronomical’ seems an exaggeration. Has the writer never actually bought tires before?
Tires seem to be only one of minor problems of EVs.
Yes, just bought new tyre for A4 ….. £160
No expert but I’m under the impression that most EVs have a number of settings to determine the sportyness of the performance. If one of the major factors in tyre wear is the torque put down by the motor, then surely there should be a setting that reduces that and maximises tyre life?
Yes, often have an ECO mode that limits power to motors.
My Shelby has Normal/Sport/Track settings. Immediately on starting, Gamecock picks Track.
People who buy EVs selected ECO when they bought ’em.
Yet another tick in the box for Do I or Do I Not buy a BEV!, no prizes for guessing the result.
I think that the VW ID3 is rear wheel drive, but 7.5k miles out of good quality rear tyres is still a good effort, assuming that the tyres were as worn as the VW rep claimed.
This made me smile.
HOA President Was Forced To Accommodate A Neighbor’s Car Charging Request, So He Did Everything That Was Required And It’ll Take A Lot Longer Than It Was Supposed To
https://twistedsifter.com/2024/05/hoa-president-was-forced-to-accommodate-a-neighbors-car-charging-request-so-he-did-everything-that-was-required-and-itll-take-a-lot-longer-than-it-was-supposed-to/
I bet most people now buying EMFs (Electric Milk Floats), also bought clacker balls, torn jeans and every other stupid fad since.