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With the expanding EV market, Nokian has introduced an Electric Fit symbol for its tires to show compatibility with electric-powered vehicles.
The new symbol covers the full portfolio of existing and future premium products, and indicates that Nokian tires can be fitted on both ICE and electric cars, providing the specified performance characteristics regardless of the vehicle powertrain.“For years, we have developed and tested our products to be compatible, premium options that meet the needs of electric car drivers. As the electric vehicle market picks up speed, the new Electric Fit symbol serves as proof of these decade-long efforts,” said Jukka Kasi, Nokian Tyres senior vice president of products and innovations.
The new symbol will be used globally to communicate that the premium tire range is electric vehicle compatible, and distributed in all relevant channels to help tire professionals and consumers identify Nokian products as a suitable high-quality fitment for electric cars.
“Our starting point is that all our products make driving safe no matter what car you drive,” added Kasi. “Testing has remained a key to ensure tire performance is seamlessly integrated with electric vehicles. The changing powertrain of the vehicles has not actually greatly changed our focus. In addition to advancing safety, we have always developed other tire properties such as low rolling resistance, durability, and comfort on a high level. With electric cars, these properties have become even more important as drivers become more aware of them.”
In addition to suitability for all vehicle powertrains, select Nokian special EV tires feature SilentDrive sound-absorbing technology, making the interior cabin noise quieter to match the silence of electric cars.
“Since the early days of electrification, Nokian Tyres has tested its tires and tire prototypes in multiple electric vehicle collaborations and with strong and emerging electric vehicle manufacturers putting them through the most demanding conditions and driving situations to advance tire performance development regardless of the changing vehicle powertrain,” Kasi explained.
Nokian launched the first winter tire designed specifically for electric cars as early as 2014. At the time of the launch, the tire was also the world’s first winter tire with an A energy rating for rolling resistance. In 2012, the same year Tesla introduced the Model S, Nokian achieved the world record for driving fastest on ice (252.09km/h) with an electric car. In 2020, the company introduced the world’s first studded tire designed for electric cars.
“As the world’s northernmost tire company, it has always been our motivation to enable safe driving throughout the year. This is why we wanted to ensure the first EV drivers had the most advanced, safest winter tires available to them. For us, winter is the perpetual, ultimate challenge, and our learnings in the toughest and rapidly changing forms of winter push the development of the full portfolio forward,” Kasi says.
“Soon most of new cars sold will be electric. We are moving on from specifying electric cars as electric cars. When we have no alternatives for them, they become just cars again. Norway is a great example of this development, with more than 80% of the new cars sold already being electric. The Norwegian electric car drivers have shown strong customer satisfaction for our premium tire portfolio for years. This shows that we are fully Electric Fit, and ready for when the rest of the world catches up with Norway,” Kasi added.
Reference: Tire Technology
