Should you fit EV-specific all-season tyres to your electric car?

All-season tyres designed specifically for electric cars actually exist, but very few people know this. So if you drive an EV that comes into contact with snow and ice for a few days each year, should you consider fitting all-season EV tyres? We would say yes, absolutely, to ensure your EV is still usable and safe whatever the weather. All-season tyres do what they say on the tin – they can be used all-year round, with minimal downsides.

Green Car Guide’s Tim Rault-Smith tested Hankook’s iON FlexClimate all-season tyres on a trip from the UK to the Alps and back in a rear-wheel drive Tesla Model S, so how did they perform? Read on for Tim’s story, but firstly, a quick summary of why all-season EV tyres are important…

The EV Advantage: Why All-Season Matters

While “Summer vs. Winter” tyre swaps are the norm in many parts of Europe, an EV-specific all-season tyre like the Hankook iON FlexClimate offers a unique set of benefits for the long-distance electric tourer:

• Weight Management: EVs are significantly heavier than their internal combustion counterparts. The iON range features Grip Boost Technology, which increases sidewall stiffness to prevent the “squirmy” feel that traditional all-seasons can suffer from under heavy loads.
• The Silent Cabin: Without an engine to mask road noise, the Model S cabin is sensitive to tyre roar. Hankook’s i Sound Absorber technology uses internal foam and specific tread pitch to keep the dB levels down – essential for a 10-hour transit across France.
• Range Retention: Winter is notoriously hard on EV range. By using an EV-specific compound, the FlexClimate minimises rolling resistance, helping offset some of the battery performance lost to the cold.
• Winter Compliance: Despite being a fit-and-forget tyre for the whole year, the 3PMSF (Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake) symbol on the sidewall makes the car fully legal and safe for Alpine regions and unexpected snowfall in the flatlands.

Top Tip: Use the Tesla Navigation to head to Superchargers. This triggers the car to ‘precondition’ (warm) the battery while you drive, ensuring you get the fastest possible charging speeds, even when the outside air is at freezing point.

How did a rear-wheel drive Tesla cope on a road trip to the Alps in winter on all-season EV tyres?

As everyone on Facebook and the comments section at the bottom half of the internet knows: “you can’t do long journeys in an EV, especially not in the winter”! Having proven this wrong several times, not least on last year’s New Year odyssey all the way to Sicily, a jaunt to the French Alps and Northern Italy felt, dare I say, modest. On paper, it was a 1,000-mile exercise in logistical optimism, but we weren’t interested in a Cannonball Run. The mission was to reach the medieval walls of Lucca to ring in the New Year at a civilized pace, proving that long-distance electric touring can be a holiday, not a series of high-voltage hurdles.

The Tesla Model S swallowed our luggage with room to spare – the benefit of a car that’s essentially two boots with a cabin in the middle. To make the Monday leg effortless, we hopped on the proudly electric and climate-friendly LeShuttle on Sunday evening. The plan was a tried and tested move: cross the Channel late, check into a Calais hotel, and use their onsite charging overnight to wake up with a full battery for a crack-of-dawn start.

This is where we ran into a minor logistical pivot – the hotel’s overnight slow AC charger showed no sign of electrical life. Fortunately, the hotel also had rapid chargers, so we simply plugged into one of those, the downside being only that after a 25-minute top-up, I had to venture out for a couple of minutes slightly past my hoped-for bedtime to unplug and move the car to free up the space – in the unlikely event of a small fleet of vans turning up late to charge.

We knew it was going to be a chilly crack-of-dawn start, and sure enough when I went to the lobby to get coffee, the front desk attendant pointed out that there had been a hard frost overnight and that I might need to get out there sooner rather than later for some windscreen scraping. A quick tap on the Tesla app triggered the remote defrost: by the time we reached the car, it was toastier than a fresh croissant and the windows clear.

Our “sleigh” was equipped with Hankook’s iON FlexClimate tyres, kindly provided by Hankook for this road test. Usually, “all-season” is marketing speak for “adequate at everything, master of nothing.” However, when you’re piloting two tonnes of electric torque through a frigid France, you need rubber that doesn’t just “cope” – it needs to work with the car’s weight and range.

The first full day of travel was a steady transit to the Alps, mostly following the Tesla’s directions and stopping at the recommended Superchargers, occasionally finding an alternative with better facilities for comfort breaks and sustenance. We were welcomed on arrival by Tom Druitt, co-founder of the London-Brighton EV Rally. If anyone understands the delicate dance between sub-zero temperatures and battery chemistry, it’s Tom. Even with the heater on full blast, the iONs earned their keep; their low rolling resistance is a quiet ally when you want to minimise charging stops and maximise the Alpine views.

Tuesday was the most relaxed day of the trip. We spent a slow morning among a beautifully frozen Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, including a dicey drive up to the dramatic Cascade du Rouget waterfall, and our first proper test of the tyres, with a steep snowy incline followed by slushy hairpin bends. The iONs – designed specifically for the higher mass of electric cars – gripped the road admirably and allowed the Model S to take the corners confidently. After a picturesque stroll to the waterfall, it was back to the car for a 90-minute winding hop over to Annecy for the rest of the day.

On New Year’s Eve, we made the final push through the Mont Blanc tunnel, emerging from the frozen mountain into the crisp light of the Aosta Valley. The Italian autostrada provided a final test of refinement. In a silent EV, tyre roar is the enemy of conversation, but these remained library-quiet. We rolled into Lucca at a very comfortable 4pm despite road work delays, with plenty of time to settle in before an even-more-leisurely-than-usual Italian dinner, and then out onto the city wall to see the fireworks.

After a few very pleasant days exploring various parts of Tuscany, we drove back up through the Italian Riviera and the south of France to a bitterly cold Avignon, famous for its “Pont”. The next afternoon we experimented with some hypermiling – slowing down to increase efficiency, which added a surprising amount to the range, and allowed us to bypass several Superchargers that the car wasn’t entirely convinced we’d reach.

The rest of the return journey was largely uneventful until the very final leg. Ironically, having been to the Alps in search of challenging road conditions, we found the A26 from Reims to Calais buried under a fresh, unploughed blanket of snow. In a heavy, rear-wheel drive car, this might spell “expensive recovery truck.” Instead, the 3PMSF-rated tread simply bit into the white stuff. Overtaking cautious local hatchbacks and getting out of the way of the odd suicidal van, we cruised along with a level of composure that felt almost unfair.

We made the ferry with ease, proving that with the right rubber and a relaxed itinerary, winter EV touring is less of an ordeal and more of an adventure. The “all-season” tyres didn’t need to be “all-singing, all-dancing” – they just needed to be competent enough to let us enjoy the holiday.