Continental Tyres is expanding its market share, especially in the segment of fully electric vehicles. The company claims that it now supplies tyres for more than 40 per cent of all-electric cars and van models in Europe. Automotive giants like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot are all leveraging Continental’s range of products especially built to suit electric vehicles.
With the growing demand for electric vehicles worldwide, the need for electric cars specific tyres is also rising. As opposed to tyres for fossil-fuelled powered vehicles, electric vehicle tyres have their own characteristics. Continental mentioned that it has been working for more than a decade now to be able to meet the requirements needed for all-electric vehicle tyres.
Electric vehicles are all about efficient driving and maximising the driving range. This means the tyres must provide the least rolling resistance without causing any safety concerns. Taking this into consideration, Continental introduced EcoContact 6 which uses Green Chili 2.0 rubber compound. This special type of natural rubber is much more resilient to mechanical deformation, thus enabling a lower rolling resistance. This ensures that the car requires lower energy, thus improving the driving range by a substantial amount. Continental claims that using this compound, the rolling resistance was reduced by close to 15 per cent.
Continental also mentioned its PremiumContact and SportContact series. Car manufacturers demanding a balance between handling, steering precision and safety for high speed opt for the PremiumContact 6 tyres. Meanwhile, the SportContact 6 tyres are specially made for demanding more handling and steering precision. This series also enables improved stability and brake performance, thus ensuring safety at high speeds. With no engine noise in electric vehicles, one of the most challenging aspects is to reduce the tyre noise to the minimum. Continental mentioned that its ContiSilent series of tyres use a unique foam that absorbs the road’s vibrations. This minimises the transmission of the tyre’s noise to the inside of the vehicle cabin.