Tyres: the problem child of sustainability?

Electric vehicles (EVs) have become emblematic of the automotive industry’s sustainability push. While they effectively address emissions at the tailpipe level, they introduce a host of other environmental challenges, and tyres are a big one—literally.

As a general rule, EVs are heavier and have more torque than their gasoline and diesel counterparts. The tyres on which they ride are larger and wider to accommodate for that. “In a very simplistic engineering sense, they feature more rubber and carbon black,” says Nick Molden, Founder and Chief Executive of Emissions Analytics, an independent testing specialist for emissions and fuel economy. “Tyre emissions are rapidly emerging as the single biggest source of pollution from vehicles.”