Interesting piece about the tire industry and LRR tires

[dgpcolorado]

Look, I'm not the only one who's noticed a significant difference with non-Ecopia tires. Pretty much everyone who stuck with Ecopia tires could not tell a difference between old and new tires...

I wouldn't go that far. I do seem to be down in mileage efficiency with new Ecopias versus the old ones, which is to be expected. I can't put a precise number on it because my driving conditions are much too complex for accurate measurements, although every energy number I've seen since the new tires seems to be a bit higher than before over the same legs of my routes. I try to keep the new tire efficiency drop in mind when stretching range, as I'm about to do tomorrow on a long run over the mountains to the dealer and back (the hard part), given my 14+% degraded battery. Don't know what I'm going to do when my battery is down 25% or more.

 

[Wennfred]

I wouldn't go that far. I do seem to be down in mileage efficiency with new Ecopias versus the old ones, which is to be expected. I can't put a precise number on it because my driving conditions are much too complex for accurate measurements, although every energy number I've seen since the new tires seems to be a bit higher than before over the same legs of my routes. I try to keep the new tire efficiency drop in mind when stretching range, as I'm about to do tomorrow on a long run over the mountains to the dealer and back (the hard part), given my 14+% degraded battery. Don't know what I'm going to do when my battery is down 25% or more.

From what I read the Ecopias get better as they wear, also what PSI are you running? I ran mine to 44psi and was averaging 4.2kw/mile. At 36psi the edges were getting chewed up quickly.

Today I run Nokian Entire's and have been running at 3.8kw/mile. As soon as I get my new Battery packs I will switch back to Ecopias for sure.




Fred

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Good article, I had not considered the interplay of the CAFE rules, manufactuers and the replacement tire decisions.

Anyone seen any studies/information in efforts to build LRR roads? I wonder if this is taken into account when highways are resurfaced....

fraid not. its life cycle verses cost. so the cheapest it can be done to last the longest. problem is that the Cheap overwhelms the "last long" so we end up with crap for roads

 

[Slow1]

Good article, I had not considered the interplay of the CAFE rules, manufactuers and the replacement tire decisions.

Anyone seen any studies/information in efforts to build LRR roads? I wonder if this is taken into account when highways are resurfaced....

fraid not. its life cycle verses cost. so the cheapest it can be done to last the longest. problem is that the Cheap overwhelms the "last long" so we end up with crap for roads

I suppose that is what we get then. Building a rail system (probably very low rolling resistance eh?) for private vehicles would be a bit much... sure could reduce total energy consumed if such a thing could be done... economics and practical use cases don't likely support such a thing though.

 

[dgpcolorado]

From what I read the Ecopias get better as they wear, also what PSI are you running? I ran mine to 44psi and was averaging 4.2kw/mile. At 36psi the edges were getting chewed up quickly...

I keep my tires at 40-42 psi; I learned early on from others here that 36 was too low. It greatly improves handling on high G hairpin turns.

 

[DaveEV]

I wouldn't go that far. I do seem to be down in mileage efficiency with new Ecopias versus the old ones, which is to be expected. I can't put a precise number on it because my driving conditions are much too complex for accurate measurements, although every energy number I've seen since the new tires seems to be a bit higher than before over the same legs of my routes. I try to keep the new tire efficiency drop in mind when stretching range, as I'm about to do tomorrow on a long run over the mountains to the dealer and back (the hard part), given my 14+% degraded battery. Don't know what I'm going to do when my battery is down 25% or more.

Good luck on your trip! I know your trip has been a challenge even with a new battery, but more charging options should make it easier.

I was surprised at how visible the difference in efficiency was once you average the data to reduce the noise level, but commuting does make it a lot easier to produce consistent numbers. You can see in my chart how the tires have gotten slightly more efficient over the last two months despite it being slightly cooler, but still no where close to the Ecopias. The earlier data was not as consistent, but I should try plotting all the data I have to see how it looks. The data was generated by simply looking at the daily mi/kWh number, but converting to Wh/mi which plots more linearly.

Hopefully your new Ecopias break in quickly - how many miles do you have on them?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Good article, I had not considered the interplay of the CAFE rules, manufactuers and the replacement tire decisions.

Anyone seen any studies/information in efforts to build LRR roads? I wonder if this is taken into account when highways are resurfaced....

fraid not. its life cycle verses cost. so the cheapest it can be done to last the longest. problem is that the Cheap overwhelms the "last long" so we end up with crap for roads

I suppose that is what we get then. Building a rail system (probably very low rolling resistance eh?) for private vehicles would be a bit much... sure could reduce total energy consumed if such a thing could be done... economics and practical use cases don't likely support such a thing though.

well, auto pilot cars won't change rolling resistance but will improve efficiency and thru put of any road. when driving on a network there is no need to anticipate the action of the other driver which allows shorter following distances and greater densities on the roads.

also, a pat answer on decisions made when building roads is tough as some areas build based on the type of weather they have but my cousin is part of the planning comission of a mid sized town in the Midwest and the decisions usually come down to money. IOW, if its build 10 of something now that will last 10 years or build 40 of something that will last 2 years, they will take the 40 every time despite the fact that it costs more money in the long run

 

[dgpcolorado]

...Hopefully your new Ecopias break in quickly - how many miles do you have on them?

I have 700 miles on the new tires. It is really hard to get a handle on how they are affecting my range when I'm driving up and down mountain passes and around hairpin turns, some posted at 10 mph (20-25 mph works ok and the new Ecopias handle it fine). However, my Gid usage from Silverton to Durango was nearly identical from the number I got last February on the old tires.

[It was 1ºF in Silverton this morning but my battery only got down to 33º overnight (down from ~57º after the climb into the mountains) and kept "warm" by some hours of charging overnight. My regen was pretty low this morning, one regen circle, until the battery warmed up somewhat from driving up two mountain passes. But the problem of lower regen at higher speeds, versus lower speeds, was seriously annoying going down steep hills... As abasile well knows!]