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Comment by irjustin | Hacker News Reader

How is tire wear related to the method of power? It could be a steam engine for all it mattered.

Accelerating and decelerating, in regards to the tire, don't care what is causing the force.

To be fair EV's can have some very high initial torque delivery, and are heavy = tyre shredding beasts.

I know I know, people aren't supposed to be taking off from every light at full chat, but, given the capability some people can't help themselves.

The biggest problem for new EV drivers, in my view, is that EVs generally have extremely good traction control systems that prevent chirping due to the ability to cut back power to the motors much more quickly than you can with a gas engine.

What this means is that you can push tires to the absolute limit and not chirp them (which, is best for traction anyways) which absolutely roasts them. Most people associate chirp = too fast, but with EVs you can never hear a chirp even when you stomp on the accelerator so they might think everything is ok.

Nobody should be shredding a set of tires in 10k miles in any EV unless they’re super low tread wear (poor tire choice, hard to do that bad), there’s an issue with the car suspension, or they’re just being idiots.

I went through my first set of tires in 10k miles. By doing car racing (on official tracks!) every month or so.

Though it might fall under the "being idiot" category.

I guess I should have caveated it as 'you won't go through a set of tires in 10k miles unknowningly'.

If you're track racing, it should be obvious you'll blow through a set of tires much faster than the treadwear ratings would suggest.

You can absolutely get them to chirp, you just have to be, uh, brave. Or stupid. I deposited my tyres along my daily commute over four months - it’s like having one of those racing line markers in a game.

Although I may drive a bit more sensibly for now as €4K a year on tyres wasn’t in my budget.

If the steam engine were to stop faster then it would put more wear on the tires. Imagine if it were floating through space. You hit the brakes. Did it help?

The tires are doing the stopping. As you said the engine is the part that doesn't matter. But if it increases the stopping power, it's doing that by increasing the load on the tires.

It's related to vehicle weight, electric cars can be significantly heavier.

My understanding is a model X is 20% heavier than a similar size mid-range suv like a telluride, which I would consider the same size SUV.

The Model X's curb weight ranges from 5,148 lbs to 5,531 lbs, while the Telluride's curb weight falls between 4,112 lbs and 4,482 lbs.

Model X is somewhat smaller than a Telluride, but close enough.

Mass. Electric cars are much heavier. F=ma.

For tire degradation I believe it's actually something like the 4th power of the mass, same as for roads.

The tire isn't constant like a road is though. Tires intended for bigger heavier vehicles get harder rubbers.

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