Sailun was able to turn the compound into a liquid form: Think "squirting Hershey syrup and stirring it," Lynch said. "It's evenly distributed in the cup of milk, and it's easier to mix. There's more uniformity."
Brampton, Ontario-based STA demonstrated the tire's performance for dealers, distributors and media alike during a two-day event in early October in and around Los Angeles.
Attendees paired up and took turns driving a Tesla, outfitted with ERange tires, through a predetermined route that crisscrossed the streets of Beverly Hills and up, in and around the canyons and hills of greater Los Angeles.
The results of this test seemed to be as positive as others Sailun cited, at least according to two participants.
"I thought the tire was as advertised," said Roger Moore, retail sales manager at Gateway Tire & Service Center, based in Louisiana. "We took the turns at a good speed. It never broke loose; it never squealed."
Garth Bouldin, general manager of Gateway Tire in Franklin, Tenn., echoed those thoughts.
"The tire meets the expectations of what they advertise it to be," Bouldin said. "My biggest impression was how it handled the cornering. There was no squealing of the tires, no matter the speed. And we took some turns aggressively, and the tire did exactly what it is supposed to do. The Tesla is a great car to test it on simply because there's not another vehicle like it for sure."
Bouldin said the event was unique compared with others he has attended in that the tire manufacturer let attendees test the product at their own pace.
"There's nobody restricting your speed," he said. "You're doing it as you please. As far as that goes, it was wonderful."
The tire, designed specifically for the North American market, will come in 32 sizes in 15- to 22-inch rim diameters, covering 80% of the EV market. The ERange is being manufactured at Sailun's factory in Cambodia and will be distributed exclusively in the U.S. and Mexico by TBC Corp., and in Canada by several Sailun partners.
The tire will be priced 25% less than other leading brands with EV-specific products. "That's the range we'll be indexing," Dolan said.
According to Sailun, other attributes of the tire include increased load-bearing capacity to account for the extra weight of EV batteries, and it offers a quiet, comfortable ride featuring the company's SilentTread staggered tuning technology.
Sailun, the No. 15 ranked tire maker with 2021 global sales of $2.7 billion, according to the 2022 Tire Business Global Tire Report, has staked a claim in the value tier, offering a range of passenger, light truck and commercial tires.
Why would the Dongying City, China-based tire maker enter the EV market, where most of the other top-tier brands have staked a claim, too?
"We all know it's not a massive value play. That's not what it was about for us," Dolan said. "We wanted to make a best-in-class product, and we're investing in the future. Sailun's here, we have a long-term vision, and I think us actually putting out a product such as this shows we're here for the long-term, not just short-term gains."
Gateway's Moore admires that tactic.
"You can lead or you can follow," he said. "The view's a whole lot better from the front."
Dolan said the company, led by Chairman and CEO Zhongxue Yuan, is planting a seed.
"We believe this project will be a huge oak tree that the next generation will get shade from," he said.
The project, he said, took just two years to come to fruition.
"So we have the benefit of getting things done quite quickly," Dolan said, noting most of the Sailun team share similar backgrounds as tire dealers.
"We're a very passionate group from the sales and marketing to the engineers. It's amazing what you can accomplish when everyone is aligned and rowing the same way."
Dolan said Sailun plans to introduce more tires to its EV portfolio, as well as bolstering current products on the market.
The next item to tackle, he said, is education: That means turning the counter person into a "raving fan" of the product, he said, so that "eight out of 10 times our product can be sold when it's the appropriate solution for that end-user."
Dolan said the company has no intention of being anything but a value producer.
"A lot of companies are dying to elevate themselves out of it," he said. "We are not. We're proud to have that place to deliver that to the end-user in the inflationary times that we are in.
"When someone puts on an ERange tire or any of the other products we sell, if I and someone on our team can save someone money to buy groceries or spend money on their children versus a set of tires," Dolan said, "I have no problem planting my flag in the value-tier segment."
