Hankook supplies special e-tires for Porsche Taycan electric sports cars

Tire maker Hankook is further expanding its original equipment commitment to the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer and, with its specially developed Ventus S1 evo 3 ev e-tires, is now also supplying the new Porsche Taycan, the first all-electric sports car from Porsche AG.

Neu-Isenburg, Germany, July 9, 2020 – Premium tire maker Hankook is contributing to the Porsche Taycan with its Ventus S1 evo 3 ev, which has been specially developed for the needs of electric vehicles. In the size 225/55R19 XL 103Y on the front axle, 275/45R19 XL 108Y on the rear axle and “NF0” on the sidewall, the Ventus S1 evo 3 ev hides a lot of technical refinements that bring the performance of electronically driven sports cars optimally onto the road.

“We are proud to equip the first fully electric sports car from Porsche with our tires. Providing the original equipment for sporty premium vehicles is already a tradition at Hankook. Our engineers have shown that with our products we are well prepared for the new demands in the field of electric sports cars and are therefore well positioned for the future,” says Hyunjun Cho, Head of Hankook OE Division.

The tread pattern of the Ventus S1 evo 3 was adapted in the ev version for Porsche in such a way that it reduces in particular those tire noises which may be perceived as annoying in the vehicle interior due to the absence of engine noise by about three decibels. To meet the heavy demands of the high performance of electric sports cars, the tire has a reinforced bead with so-called bead-packing technology, as well as high lateral stiffness for precise handling even at high speeds.

“With the tire development for the Porsche Taycan, our development team has moved into completely new dimensions and we are proud of the result. For the original equipment engineers, such a development project represents a special challenge – because solving the conflict of objectives for optimizing the various performance criteria in an e-vehicle like this high-performance sports car requires the highest level of expertise and the latest technologies”, explains Moonhwa Hong, Vice President of OE Development Department at Hankook.

To meet the specific demands of an electric vehicle such as the Porsche Taycan, Hankook’s developers have also discovered an optimally balanced vulcanization process for the tire compound that ensures the right balance of temperature, time expenditure and pressure. As a result, Ventus S1 evo 3 ev achieves 30% greater durability compared to a standard tread compound. Abrasion resistance has been improved by 5% compared to the conventional model and rolling resistance has been improved by 13% overall.