The Taycan is Porsche’s first series of all-electric vehicles. It’s a unique EV that is built to deliver high performance while maintaining top-notch efficiency. One way to do this is by developing proprietary parts that will ensure the car does not fall short on its promise or compromise on range.
Hankook Tire has decided to expand its OE commitment to Porsche by developing a tire that will meet the requirements of the Taycan. The tire is dubbed the Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3 EV. It is highly refined and designed to optimize the driving performance of electric cars.
It will be supplied in size 275/45R19 XL 108Y for the rear axle and 225/55R19 XL 103Y for the front axle. It is distinguished from the conventional tire for combustion engine vehicles in so many ways.
For starters, its tread pattern is modified to minimize road noise which would otherwise be conspicuous on an EV. It also comes with a reinforced bead and high-lateral stiffness for high performance and improved handling at high speeds. Rolling resistance is improved by 13%, durability by 30%, and abrasion resistance by 5%.
With the current shift to electric vehicles by most automakers, it seems that most tire manufacturers will be forced to develop completely new tires instead of just improving the old ones. This is because EVs are built heavier than internal combustion engine vehicles and come with higher rolling resistance and torque. These are just a few among many things that influence the development of tires.
Hankook Tire has discovered a way of using an optimally balanced vulcanization process that provides the right balance of pressure, time expenditure, and temperature.
“With the tire development for the Porsche Taycan, our development team has moved into completely new dimensions and we are proud of the result. For the original equipment engineers, such a development project represents a special challenge – because solving the conflict of objectives for optimizing the various performance criteria in an e-vehicle like this high-performance sports car requires the highest level of expertise and the latest technologies”, explained Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Krause, head of the European research and development center at Hankook.