All season tires are a good choice for hybrid and electric cars as these tires have the lowest rolling resistance out of any tires. Low rolling resistance is important because it decreases the amount of energy needed for each journey thereby allowing the hybrid or electric car to go further. Rolling resistance is the combination of forces that work against the forward motion of your vehicle. The weight, gravity and inertia, the amount of friction between the tires and the road surface, as well as air drag.
Not only in hybrid and electric cars is low rolling resistance important, in fact, it has become the goal by all tire manufacturers to produce tires with low rolling resistance. This is because people are more environmentally conscious and want to reduce pollution and leave a smaller carbon footprint. The rolling resistance plays a role in fuel efficiency because rolling resistance burns about seven percent of the fuel while the car is on the freeway and with a low rolling resistance tire you can save about 6 percent on your overall fuel costs.
So why are all-season tires the tires with the lowest rolling resistance? This is because tires like winter tires and all-weather tires have deeper tread blocks to help with grip and traction on snow and ice. Since all-season tires are not made for winter weather conditions and do not hold the “Three Peak Mountain Snowflake” emblem they are not required to have such an aggressive tread pattern. This in turn equals lower rolling resistance which helps make the car more environmentally friendly which is of course the reason many people invest in hybrid and electric cars.
Tire size can also play a role in rolling resistance. It is recommended to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for tire size for the make and model of your car. This is because placing larger or wider tires than the recommended size tires actually decreases the fuel efficiency by increasing the rolling resistance. Most hybrid or electric cars actually come equipped with all-season tires from the factory. The other big advantage with these tires is that they can be used year-round if you live in an area with mild year-round climate which is the case in many areas of the United States. There has been lots of new innovations to produce tires that are capable of providing both low rolling resistance and a quiet drive.
If you live in an area with mild all year-round weather, then all-season tires remain the best choice especially for hybrid and electric cars. On the other hand, if the winters are severe then you have the option to place winter tires on your car in the winter, or to buy all-weather tires.
The trade off with all-weather tires versus all-season tires is that to provide better grip which is the case in the all-weather tires you increase the rolling resistance.
For more information on all-season tires for hybrid cars, visit nokiantires.com