The Ioniq 28kWh is/was the most efficient car you could buy. A small part of this is down to the Michelin Energy tyres. I have been using these and other eco-tyres for many years in previous ICE (fuel) cars, with good results. I could get up to 95mpg out of a Skoda Fabia for example. EVs have plenty of torque available from a standstill, the Ioniq has 292Nm, so tyres are important. However, with a torquey electric car on cold slippery muddy back roads in England, let alone snow, these eco-tyres can become a liability.
Recently, all-season tyres have become available with decent Fuel Economy FE ratings of “B”, (where an “energy” tyre would get an “A”). They get quite amazing performance on snow as you can see here:
A good in-depth review of all-season tyres is here-
I went for the Goodyear Vector gen 2, as the price was competitive and the energy rating of B was something I felt I could probably live with. They were fitted on a particularly wet day in November, quite appropriate really. The fitter had “already fitted 3 sets of these already today”. The question is, how much range would I lose?
We recently fitted Conti EcoContact6 A-rated tyres to our other Ioniq, so I can easily compare new tyres with new tyres. In early december the range on a 100% charge is 128 miles on the All-seasons, and around 9 miles more for the EcoContact6, or 7% difference. For the unpredictable UK winters, it’s a price I’m happy to pay.
The performance of the new All-Season tyres is impressive, in cold wet weather (2 degrees C) in particular, the grip is far better than a summer tyre. It was easy to induce wheel spin at say 30mph with the old tyres in damp conditions. The traction control light became a regular visitor. With the All-Seasons I can only induce wheelspin on tight corners when the inside wheel is unloaded. In slippery, muddy country roads there is definitely more grip, but it’s not infinite. Noise is certainly higher than the old Energy tyres, but with a blockier, more tractor-like tread it’s not surprising. With a window down, tyre noise when accelerating from low speeds is rather reminiscent of a Land Rover with off-road tyres, driven on tarmac. Day-to-day I find the most noticeable difference between the tyres is at motorway junctions, where the hugely increased grip accelerating on fast corners feels like a definite upgrade.
simonselectriccar 