This Tire Is Most Efficient for Electric Cars

• Tire Rack did a road test comparing popular EV-specific tires and other sporty tires to see how they handled on a Tesla Model 3.

• The winner may surprise you.

• As you may have guessed, summer tires do better going around a corner.

Say you have an electric car and it's time for replacement tires. Do you buy whatever was on it before, or go with something else? It depends what you want your tire to do, and how you drive.

Online tire seller Tire Rack tried out nine different tires on the same Tesla Model 3 electric car to see which one worked best. The test compared five EV-specific tires, two popular grand touring all-season tires, and two ultra high performance all-season tires from brands Michelin, Continental, Goodyear, Hankook, Yokohama, and Pirelli.

Tire Rack describes the testing procedure as follows:

On-road testing was on Tire Rack’s test loop near its South Bend headquarters, a 6.0-mile loop of expressway, state highway and county roads. This real-word circuit provides various road conditions at both city and highway speeds, including smooth and coarse concrete, and new and patched asphalt.

The added EV component is a range/efficiency test using a 100-mile loop and measuring watt hours/mile as indicated on the Tesla’s trip display, then calculated to determine each tire's theoretical Tesla Model 3 range on a full charge.

Wet and dry testing continued on Tire Rack’s own one-third mile test track, incorporating 90-degree street corners, a five-cone slalom, and simulated expressway ramps. The track allows the team to experience tire traction, responsiveness, handling, and drivability encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.

The results? The most efficient tires for your EV are Hankook ion evo AS, which used only 263 watt hours per mile. The Goodyear ecoReady was second using 269 watt hours per mile, and the Continental ProContact RX (T1) rounded out the podium at 272.

If you want tires that will make your Tesla Model 3 corner, the winner was the Michelin PilotSport 4S, but you pay a price in pure energy efficiency. Life's full of tradeoffs.

Tire Rack stressed there is no rule stating that an EV owner has to use tires designed for EV applications.

"Any tire that meets the vehicle’s load, speed, pressure, and size requirements can be installed on an EV," Tire Rack said. "Consumer preference ultimately depends on usage priorities such as range/efficiency or traction/performance, and these qualities can be tradeoffs. And EV owners should realize driver behavior impacts range and wear – aggressive driving will decrease results."

Watch the video to get complete results of the extensive testing.

Let us know what you think of EV tires in the comments.