Usual commute 75m round trip, occasional pop up to York. Used to do 20k a year pre Covid now 8k. My Mokka-e is handling this with aplomb. Pretty sure the longer legged MG4 will be fine.

Apparently a top Ford exec has warned that they will cut the amount of ice cars they will sell in the UK. This is to avoid huge penalties for not meeting the governments demands on the percentage of EVs sold. The ice cars will be sold on other markets.

There are already bargains. Look at prices of pre reg Leaf with the smaller battery, £17k, if you are happy with a few thousand miles £12k for a 23 reg,

Short tyre life isn't just an issue with battery cars.

New tyre tread depths are getting ridiculous in too many cases, but very difficult for the average motorist to find out what tread depths their potential new tyres come with.

Camskill gives tread depths on some, TyreReviews gives the new depths on tested tyres, not aware of anywhere else that provides this info.

Some new tyres are coming with only 6.5mm new tread giving only 3.5mm of tread to use if they change at 3mm as many do (i don't like going below 3mm for water dispersal issues), if the tyres are wide low profiles by the time they get to 3mm they start to look grim espacially on front wheels where cornering forces tend to knock the edges off prematurely, my last set of new Falkens came with only just over 7mm and whilst they've been a decent enough tyre i've already decided i will not buy another tyre with under 8mm new depth.

Regarding excessive wear on battery car tyres, its going to happen if people take advantage of blasting away enjoying leaving ice cars standing, hopefully they've saved more than enough on fuel to make it nothing to worry about.

The report also said that tyre manufacturers are developing more EV-specific tyres that will cope with the extra weight

The issue of weight on its own really shouldn't be an issue re tyres. Using the ID3 as an example, the biggest battery version that has a GVW of 2300kg, the same as my last but one work van, a 2006 Ford Transit Connect (which used 195/65x15 tyres). Torque may well be an issue, not because of the amount (plenty of ICE cars have as much torque as an electric equivalent), but because it is available instantly. But that is really down to the driver, you don't have to floor it every time you pull away.

It seems that some cars are affected much more significantly than others - possibly 2WD cars, with that ID3 being a RWD car, unusual for a modern-day VW the size of a Golf

As for the issue of the ID3 being RWD. While that does mean the rear tyres will be working harder than they would on a FWD car, it also means the front tyres will be working less hard because now they are only having to steer, rather than steer and put the power down.

The problem is that perfectly reasonable set of assumptions directly contradicts the experience of the person in the report with the ID3, who wasn't hard on the car and who'd previously got up to 35,000 miles out of sets of tyres.

Assuming the guy was being truthful as to how he drove his car, there must be something that lead to the tyres wearing far more quickly than on his previous car. It could be that this extra weight (and this could also be a factor on many a bigger [and thus heavier] car these days, especially SUVs), perhaps in combination with the higher load going over poorly-surfaced roads and speed humps leads to additional wear in the suspension and tyres, which have an increasing effect on one another.

Whilst I agree with GB that tread depths are on the decrease, a good number (like Michelin) now say that they should fine below 3mm, possibly right up to the minimum legal depth or around 10 years old, rather than the 'old' way of recommending changing at 3mm tread left or 6 years old.

My Mokka-e is still on the original tyres, have 5mm of tread left and I'm 16.5k miles in. So not every EV wears out five sets of tyres and catches fire weekly nor explodes every other day. You are being lied to by the FF media.

The deciding factor is the organic behind the wheel. Yes the power and the instant acceleration are fantastic. If you use them all the time be prepared to buy tyres. If you're in your 60's and use the car as a transport device and not supplemental appendage enhancement then in my three year EV experience there's little difference.

Some drivers of BMW I3 report 7k miles life from rear tyres when they drive like a BMW driver .

Others get 25k miles..

Simple reasons..

If we’re looking at anecdotal evidence of tyre wear, I follow the Polestar owners Facebook group. There are tales of owners getting 15,000 miles from tyres and others still on the same set at 40,000+. Both from the same model/spec of car. So the only variable is the manner in which it has been driven. So something under 10,000 from a fairly humdrum small hatchback does suggest something is a little awry.

The odd thing about that experience with the ID3 was that the man's dealership said it was 'normal' and 'expected'. Surely if it was the way it was driven, they would've said so and defended their car's 'honour'.

Maybe some are better designed than others - including the suspension, which can take a decent amount of the punishment away from the tyres. Whilst I'm going by the report I referred to, like I said in the other thread (Which survey reliability), what basis it was done on isn't given, which cannot confirm whether many factors influencing the results have been accounted for.

One thing that is true - though more about newer cars generally - is that their OEM tyre sizes are wider and lower profile, meaning they will inherently be more susceptible damage than older cars with skinnier, higher-profile tyres on smaller alloys and steel rims

Given the higher prevalence of potholes and generally damaged roads these days, this may make a big difference, but will also be compounded by cars getting bigger, heavier and faster accelerating.

It seems the ID3 is delivered with tyres having a tread depth of just 5.5 mm - a bit like computer printers being supplied with special low capacity cartridges.

Back to tyres for a moment, Lex Autolease (157,000 EV’s on their fleet) say - ‘We have no evidence to suggest than EVs have better or worse tyre rates than petrol and diesel cars as many of them become bigger and heavier.’

That could just as easily mean they don't bother to gather any evidence - especially as they may not have put lots of other factors into the mix, or haven't yet checked evidence that was there.

Lucid was at least able to raise another $1 billion in capital from its majority shareholder, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

You have to smile at the irony that oil profits are financing an American EV manufacturer..!

With over $700 billion it's a gamble they can afford to lose......and they probably will. Lucid bangs on about its advanced winding technology, clever hollow rotor and self-styled upmarket positioning but the thing that struck me when I sat in one was that the rear seats are only fit for children. They are only a few inches above the floor as the battery takes up so much space.

Edited by SLO76 on 02/06/2024 at 18:13