Tons of Torque, Not Weight, Is What Accelerates EV Tire Wear
So says Tire Rack expert Woody Rogers, who breaks down how EV tires wear and why.
Tires are simple, right? Round, black, no moving parts? No real difference in brands or where you buy them? Practically a commodity, right?
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A polite but definitive “NO” is the answer from our guest this week, Woody Rogers, Tire Rack’s SVP of Marketing.
But of course, you’re no doubt thinking, that’s exactly what the head marketing guy for a company selling tires would say—his job is to sell tires after all; create the desire, the need, for the stickiest French, Italian and American rubber, and lead us away from the off brands from faraway lands. But, as you’ll find, Rogers is not just any old marketing guy, he's spent over 25 years at Tire Rack, many of them in the tire testing department he would ultimately end up leading. Despite his modesty, thoughtfulness, and smooth broadcaster’s delivery, make no mistake—Rogers is a rabid car nut and a helluva driver, with skills honed over years of tire testing at Tire Rack's proving grounds at its HQ in Notre Dame, Indiana, as well as auto-crossing at the national level.
This means Rogers not only possesses an encyclopedic understanding of how tires are made, marketed and sold, he is deeply versed in how they affect vehicle dynamics, perform on the street, on track and off-road, and in all sorts of weather conditions. He’s also very knowledgeable about EV tires, including how quickly they wear out and why. As we hinted at, in Rogers’ view, it’s not the weight that’s causing accelerated wear—it’s the irresistible pull of all the EV torque available from the moment you step on the go pedal. We discuss other EV tire-related issues as well, including how car makers must balance range and efficiency against traction, braking, and handling. We also explode some myths, and have our minds blown about why EV range improves over the life of the tire. From heat-cycling to tire-shaving, winter vs. summer vs. all-season tires, Rogers patiently answers all of our questions.
As you’ll find out on this episode, we are unabashedly huge fans of Rogers and Tire Rack. For years, both have supported MotorTrend across the board; from basic fact checking requests, to providing tires for our various long-term vehicles and feature stories. The company has also been a sponsor of some of our events over the years, and is the supporter of this episode of the podcast. We have leveraged Tire Rack's core competencies: tremendous online resources at tirerack.com, huge inventory, and fast shipping across the country for all of our major vehicle tests over the years. Tire Rack has often saved our bacon when we needed a special, high-performance tire, in a hurry.
So if you want to get smarter about tires, cars and the future, this is the episode for you. Watch the podcast right here, or on our YouTube channel. If audio is your thing, you can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like it, please tell your friends, share us on social media, like the video, and don't forget to give us a five-star review.
I used to go kick tires with my dad at local car dealerships. I was the kid quizzing the sales guys on horsepower and 0-60 times, while Dad wandered around undisturbed. When the salesmen finally cornered him, I'd grab as much of the glossy product literature as I could carry. One that still stands out to this day: the beautiful booklet on the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX that favorably compared it to the Porsches of the era. I would pore over the prose, pictures, specs, trim levels, even the fine print, never once thinking that I might someday be responsible for the asterisked figures "*as tested by Motor Trend magazine." My parents, immigrants from Hong Kong, worked their way from St. Louis, Missouri (where I was born) to sunny Camarillo, California, in the early 1970s. Along the way, Dad managed to get us into some interesting, iconic family vehicles, including a 1973 Super Beetle (first year of the curved windshield!), 1976 Volvo 240, the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic station wagon, and 1984 VW Vanagon. Dad imbued a love of sports cars and fast sedans as well. I remember sitting on the package shelf of his 1981 Mazda RX-7, listening to him explain to my Mom - for Nth time - what made the rotary engine so special. I remember bracing myself for the laggy whoosh of his turbo diesel Mercedes-Benz 300D, and later, his '87 Porsche Turbo. We were a Toyota family in my coming-of-age years. At 15 years and 6 months, I scored 100 percent on my driving license test, behind the wheel of Mom's 1991 Toyota Previa. As a reward, I was handed the keys to my brother's 1986 Celica GT-S. Six months and three speeding tickets later, I was booted off the family insurance policy and into a 1983 Toyota 4x4 (Hilux, baby). It took me through the rest of college and most of my time at USC, where I worked for the Daily Trojan newspaper and graduated with a biology degree and business minor. Cars took a back seat during my stint as a science teacher for Teach for America. I considered a third year of teaching high school science, coaching volleyball, and helping out with the newspaper and yearbook, but after two years of telling teenagers to follow their dreams, when I wasn't following mine, I decided to pursue a career in freelance photography. After starving for 6 months, I was picked up by a tiny tuning magazine in Orange County that was covering "The Fast and the Furious" subculture years before it went mainstream. I went from photographer-for-hire to editor-in-chief in three years, and rewarded myself with a clapped-out 1989 Nissan 240SX. I subsequently picked up a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ60) to haul parts and camera gear. Both vehicles took me to a more mainstream car magazine, where I first sipped from the firehose of press cars. Soon after, the Land Cruiser was abandoned. After a short stint there, I became editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Sport Compact Car just after turning 30. My editorial director at the time was some long-haired dude with a funny accent named Angus MacKenzie. After 18 months learning from the best, Angus asked me to join Motor Trend as senior editor. That was in 2007, and I've loved every second ever since.
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