European Startup Seeks to Reinvent EV Tires to Slash Toxic Effects

An electric car’s clean reputation might be masking a less obvious problem sitting right under it: the tires. Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, founder and CEO of Swedish technology company ENSO, argues that tires are among the products everyone relies on without really thinking about, quietly underpinning much of the global economy while causing damage that rarely gets discussed.

That damage adds up quickly once you look closer. The constant wear from stopping, starting, and turning, combined with energy-intensive production and raw material extraction, makes tires a major contributor to air pollution in cities, and one of the largest sources of ocean microplastics, says Erlendsson. Disposal makes the issue worse as close to two billion tires are burned every year simply because barely any retired tires are ever recycled into new ones.

Electric vehicles complicate matters further rather than solving them. Erlendsson explains that EVs are typically heavier and produce far more torque than gasoline cars, which wears down tires faster than traditional vehicles ever did. Driving habits don’t help either, since EVs tend to be driven more aggressively and are typically used in cities with frequent stop-start traffic that accelerates tire wear.

Around 90% of an electric car’s motion is converted to energy, compared to 30% for internal combustion engine cars, and Erlendsson says that efficiency gain comes with a catch: it makes EVs unusually sensitive to tire quality, so a poor tire choice can quietly eat into a car’s range and push up electricity costs.

ENSO’s answer has been to rework the raw materials, formula and assembly of its tires, feeding data gathered from vehicle fleets back into ongoing product tweaks. The company says its polymer compounds and tread design cut tire particulate pollution by up to 35% compared with conventional tires, while boosting driving range and energy efficiency by up to 10%.

Rather than selling to individual electric vehicle drivers, ENSO has built its business around large taxi and delivery fleets, reasoning that high-mileage vehicles stand to gain the most in cost, energy and pollution savings. The company already supplies electric vehicle drivers working with Uber across the UK and is looking to expand that partnership further.

Being named a finalist in the 2023 Earthshot Prize, the environmental award founded by Prince William, gave the tire pollution issue a higher profile than it typically has, according to Erlendsson, who believes mainstream tire makers have long preferred to avoid the topic altogether.

High-end electric vehicle makers like Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN) are likely to give these improved tire designs serious thought if the innovators show that switching to these tires makes sense not only environmentally but also economically.

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