New EV Issue: Tires Wear Down A Whole Lot Faster.
(Another financial hit in the wallet with electric vehicles.)
New tires every 7,000 miles? Electric cars save gas but tire wear shocks some Florida drivers.
It was love at first sight when Neil Semel saw the electric Mercedes EQS 450+ at a Pompano Beach dealership. The sedan was the perfect sleek black color his wife wanted, had only 2,200 miles and they both liked the idea of getting away from gasoline.
“I’ve always driven combustion engines and I thought it was time to try to save the planet,” Semel said.
But after less than 5,000 miles of driving around his Boca Raton neighborhood, Semel was shocked to find some essential — and very expensive — parts were already wearing out. The tires.
“If somebody looked at me and said, Mr. Semel, you are going to love this car but in about 7,000 miles you will have to pay 1,400 or 1,500 dollars to replace the tires, I wouldn’t have bought the car,” Semel said.
Pricey!
For many drivers of EVs in Florida — the nation’s second largest market for electrical vehicles — premature tire wear has become an unexpected black mark on vehicles promoted as a green climate-friendly option to gas-gulping cars.
At EV Garage Miami, a Sweetwater repair shop that services 90 percent electric vehicles, lead technician Jonathan Sanchez said tires are the most frequent thing customers come in about — no matter what model or make of EV they’re driving. Tire mileage can vary widely of course, but he said he frequently changes EV tires at just 8,000 to 10,000 miles — a fourth or even fifth of typical tire wear on a gas-burning car.
Is this something that they are seeing more in a warmer all year round environment like Florida, or happening everywhere? Does this cover all types of EVs, or just luxuries?
There are a number of explanations for the fast wear — from the way EVs work to the composition of the rubber to individual driving habits and maintenance practices — but vehicle and tire makers and industry experts acknowledge the issue. The tire manufacturer Michelin said conventional tires on electric vehicles consume tires 20 percent faster than on a gas-powered car — a figure commonly cited by EV makers as well — but Goodyear also has said they could wear up to 50 percent faster. Automakers and the tire industry are working on improvements.
So, it’s real. To go along with all the other higher costs associated with owning an EV, which takes the gas savings and blows it away with the Everything Else costs. Perhaps not as bad as some are saying, but, certainly, replacing tires quicker is not good.
That would be good for consumers but also for the climate. To some extent, running through tires quickly may offset the reduction of damaging emissions that EVs offer. Some studies have shown that tires actually have more particle pollution than exhaust, 2,000 times as much.
“Tires are rapidly eclipsing the tailpipe as a major source of emissions from vehicles,” said Nick Molden, to the Guardian who conducted one study with Emissions Analytics.
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