New Cars Are So Heavy That Continental Had to Come Up With a New Tire Rating
The clever bit is that the new HL tires, rather than just being some tractor-style additions to your regular (if enormous) car, are inflated to the same pressure and have the same dimensions as the previous range. That’s no small task if you’re going to make things that are also drivable in a passenger vehicle.
Project lead Dr. Stefan Habicht had this to say about the new heavy-load-bearing rubber:
“We were dealing here with tradeoffs that needed resolving at a very high level. In terms of construction, we reinforced the bead and enhanced the contour of the tire to reduce tire/road noise.
“At the same time we also optimized the pattern compound. As a result, we were able to achieve low rolling resistance, ensure precision handling and keep mileage at its customary high level.”
EVs, for instance, aren’t just heavier—they also put more strain on tires with all that lovely torque, and putting the wrong ones on can make you look like a total fool. The HL tires will be rolling out for OEMs first, which for Continental includes Tesla and basically every German car manufacturer’s EV range.
Continental has recently turned its hand to making extreme load-bearing off-road tires for Extreme E’s Odyssey-21 electric SUV, and as battery pack sizes and power output on EVs increases, there’s going to be more and more demand on tires.
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