London taxis get longer-range, pay-per-mile EV tyres

British tyre firm Enso will launch its range-extending tyres for electric cars later this summer - operating a unique ‘pay-per-mile’ subscription model aimed at cutting running costs. The first sets of its TX1 rubber, designed to extend the range of electric taxis, will be fitted to a fleet of 100 LEVC black cabs in London. According to Enso, EV taxis are prime candidates for its tyres because their high mileage, torque and weight combine to significantly increase wear rates. The firm plans to open its first tyre station in central London in the autumn to support high-mileage drivers. Taxi drivers using the Enso tyres will pay no up-front costs but instead pay a subscription fee of around one pence per mile. This will be facilitated by financing specialist Zeti, which uses telematics (‘black box’) tracking to lease EVs from Jaguar, LEVC and Tesla to fleets on a cost-per-mile basis. The same technology will be used to track tyre use and wear on Enso-equipped vehicles. Dan Saunders, CEO of Zeti, said: “ENSO’s product speaks to exactly what we are looking to achieve as a company – accelerating the way to cleaner fleets and lower pollution through innovation.” It isn’t just energy efficiency that Enso is targeting. Given EVs’ greater weight, they also consume tyres more quickly, which poses an environmental concern. According to a 2017 paper from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 28% of microplastics released into the ocean come from the process of tyre wear. Unless harder compounds are used on EVs to reduce wear rates – thus the amount of plastic pollution emitted – this could hamper the environmental benefits offered by electrification. Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, founder and CEO of Enso, said: “The traditional tyre industry business model incentivises volume and indirectly creates huge levels of tyre pollution, and enormous tyre waste at their end-of-life. “As EV sales grow, this problem is also getting worse, given that EVs wear out tyres 20-50% faster, according to Michelin and Goodyear, due to their heavier weight and higher torque." Enso has yet to officially clarify the additional efficiency or life of its EV tyres, although they have been awarded an 'A' rating by the TÃV SÃD in Germany. Erlendsson said in February: “We're expecting to show that Enso tyres are more efficient in terms of extending range and reducing pollution.” Enso recently showcased the capabilities of its tyres by extending the range of a Renault Zoe by 50 miles (12%) compared with a Zoe running OE Michelin Primacy rubber in a June 2021 hypermiling exercise. The firm currently supplies tyres to the last-mile delivery fleets of DPD, Royal Mail and Transport for London.