Tyres on electric cars: what's different

An electric car runs on the same kind of tyres as any other car, but it asks more of them. The battery makes it heavier, the motor gives you its full pull the moment you press the pedal, and the effort it takes to roll the tyres comes out of your range.

Why electric cars are harder on tyres

Batteries are heavy, so an electric car usually weighs more than a petrol or diesel car of a similar size. Electric motors also deliver their torque straight away, rather than building it up through the gears. Michelin says both of these speed up tread wear, and that frequent hard acceleration is one of the quickest ways to wear tyres out.

How much faster varies a lot from car to car. Michelin also points out that cars designed as electric from the start, on tyres chosen for them, can wear their tyres at a similar rate to an equivalent petrol car. How you drive makes more difference than the badge.

Regenerative braking

Regenerative braking slows the car using the motor instead of the brake pads. It saves wear on the pads, but the slowing force still goes through the tyres. Michelin says sharp, abrupt regen works the tyres much like hard braking, while smooth, gradual slowing is kinder to them and recovers energy more efficiently too.

Load ratings: XL and HL

Every tyre has a load index: the two- or three-digit number after the size, like the 101 in 245/40 R19 101Y. It tells you how much weight the tyre can carry. Because electric cars are heavy, many need tyres with more load capacity than a standard tyre of the same size.

• XL (Extra Load), which used to be marked "Reinf", can carry more weight than a standard tyre of the same size by running at a higher pressure.
• HL (High Load) is a newer standard, defined by the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO) for heavy cars, many of them electric. "HL" appears in front of the size, as in HL 245/40 R19 101Y XL. At the same pressure, an HL tyre can carry more than an XL tyre of the same size.

This matters when you replace them. New tyres need at least the load capacity the car maker specifies, and if your car came on HL tyres, Michelin says the replacements must be HL too. An XL tyre in the same size can't carry as much, and running a tyre beyond its load capacity risks it failing. Fitting HL where the car originally had XL is fine. Here's how to read the markings on a tyre.

Do you need EV-specific tyres?

Not necessarily. The essentials are the right size, load index and speed rating for your car, and Michelin says all of its tyres are suitable for electric cars. But tyres designed for electric cars usually add a few things:

• Lower rolling resistance. Less energy is lost as the tyre rolls, which means more range. On the tyre label, the fuel efficiency grade shows this, with A the best, and on an electric car it applies to range instead of fuel.
• Noise-reducing foam. Without an engine to cover it, you hear more tyre noise in an electric car. Many tyres for them have a layer of foam bonded to the inside of the tread to absorb the hum from the air inside the tyre. Continental calls theirs ContiSilent and Pirelli calls theirs PNCS.
• A stronger structure to carry the weight of the battery and cope with the torque.

Some show it on the sidewall: Pirelli marks its tyres with "Elect", for example. Many cars also leave the factory on tyres developed with the car maker, shown by a code on the sidewall, such as the T0 or T1 on Tesla-approved tyres. They're what the car was set up on, so they're the natural like-for-like replacement.

Pressures matter even more

A soft tyre takes more effort to roll. On a petrol car that costs fuel; on an electric car it costs range. Tesla's owner's manual says plainly that under-inflation reduces range and tread life, and Michelin says under-inflated tyres use electricity unnecessarily.

Don't be surprised if your car's figures look higher than you're used to. Use your own car's figures, not what you'd put in another car.

• Use the label on the door pillar. It gives the figures for your car's tyre sizes, usually with a second set for a full load. The number moulded on the tyre's sidewall is the most it can take, not the figure to use.
• Check them cold, at least once a month. Tesla suggests checking after the car has stood for more than three hours, since driving warms the tyres and pushes the reading up.
• Use the fully loaded figures when you're loaded. A full car on holiday is a lot of extra weight on top of the battery. More in tyre pressures for a full load and towing.
• Top up more often in winter. Cold air lowers the pressure, at the time of year the cold is already costing you range. Here's more on cold weather.

Rotation and alignment

Tyres wear at different rates depending on where they sit on the car. Michelin advises rotating an electric car's tyres more often than you would on a petrol car, because the extra weight and torque make those differences show up sooner. Tesla, for example, recommends rotating every 6,250 miles, or sooner if the tread depths differ by 1.5mm or more.

• Follow the rotation interval in your handbook, or ask about it at each service. If your car has different-sized tyres front and rear, they can't be swapped between axles.
• Have the alignment checked once a year, and after a hard knock on a kerb or pothole, as Michelin recommends. Wear on just one edge of a tyre is a common sign that it's out.
• Check the tread while you're there. The legal minimum is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre. Here's what the MOT tester checks.

Smooth acceleration, gentle regen and the right pressures are the best things you can do for an electric car's tyres, and its range.