Hankook, Goodyear secure OE fitments on Porsche's electric Taycan sports car

WEISSACH, Germany — German car maker Porsche A.G. has approved a specially developed “ev” version of the Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3 as an OE fitment on its electric Taycan sports car and OK’d two additional Goodyear Eagle fitments on the same platform.

German car maker Porsche A.G. has approved a specially developed "ev" version of the Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3 as an OE fitment on its electric Taycan sports car.

The tire spec'd for the Taycan is a derivative of the Ventus S1 evo 3 launched in 2018 that features tread design and compound changes that offer 13% lower rolling resistance, 30% greater durability and a measurable reduction in rolling noise, Hankook said.

The Ventus S1 ev model is fitted OE on the Taycan 4S model in sizes 225/55R19 XL 103Y and 275/45R19 XL 108Y on the front and rear axles, respectively. The tires carry Porsche's "NF0" OE designation on the sidewall.

"We are proud to equip the first fully electric sports car from Porsche with our tires," Hyunjun Cho, head of Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd.'s OE division, said.

"Providing the original equipment for sporty premium vehicles is already a tradition at Hankook. Our engineers have shown that with our products we are well prepared for the new demands in the field of electric sports cars and are therefore well positioned for the future."

Moonhwa Hong, vice president of OE development department at Hankook, added: "With the tire development for the Porsche Taycan, our development team has moved into completely new dimensions. … For the original equipment engineers, such a development project represents a special challenge, because solving the conflict of objectives for optimizing the various performance criteria in an e-vehicle like this high-performance sports car requires the highest level of expertise and the latest technologies."

Besides the changes to the tread compound and design, Hankook reinforced the tire's bead with "bead-packing" technology to enhance lateral stiffness for precise handling even at high speeds.

An SUV version of the Ventus S1 evo 3 is OE on the Porsche Cayenne four-door all-wheel-drive hatchback SUV.

Other OE fitments on Taycan models include Pirelli P Zero and Michelin Pilot Sport 4, according to Porsche.

Launched in late 2019, Taycan 4S generates up to 530 horsepower (390 kW), giving the four-door, four-wheel-drive sports car 0-62 mph acceleration of 4 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph. Standard battery range is up to 252 miles per charge.

The disclosure of Hankook's gaining an OE fitment on an all-electric vehicle follow by a few weeks the announcement that the South Korean tire maker had secured the race tire supply contract for the ABB Formula E World Championship starting in 2022.

Porsche also approved Goodyear’s Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport and Eagle Touring as additional fitments on the Taycan, complementing three fitments Goodyear secured last year when the Taycan was launched.

The new OE fitments are: Eagle F1 SuperSport in sizes 255/40R20 101 Y XL (front axle) and 295/35R20 105 Y XL (rear); and the Eagle Touring in sizes 265/35R21 101 H XL (front) and 305/30R21 104 H XL (rear).

Hans Vrijsen, managing director OE Consumer for Goodyear EMEA, said: “These additional fitments are the product of great, collaborative work with Porsche.”
The company’s existing fitments on the Taycan are:

• Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3, sizes 265/35ZR21 101Y XL and 305/30ZR21 104Y XL;
• UltraGrip Performance Gen-1, sizes 245/45R20 103V XL and 285/40R20 108V XL; and
• Eagle Touring, sizes 225/55R19 103H XL and 275/45R19 108H XL.