There’s no better place to find out how a tire performs than up close and personal on the track, which is why Hankook Tire, as the official technical partner and tire supplier of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and the official sponsor of the races happening this weekend at the Portland International Speedway, to watch their product perform at the highest level of electric vehicle racing.

Hankook’s North America president, Rob Williams, said that the iON Race tire is directly responsible for the technology being used in Hankook’s passenger iON tires. The iON Race is constructed using organic rayon - a semi-synthetic fiber – which is common in racing tires and UHP tires. It is very stable, strong and heat-resistant, and by pairing it with a blend of natural rubber, Hankook was able to achieve a level of tear resistance and durability that they say they are very happy with.

In electric racing, the efficiency of the car is every bit as important as its power, because these vehicles want to squeeze every last ounce of energy out of those batteries before they have to fuel up again. So, of course, Hankook went the extra mile reducing roll resistance as far as possible on the iON Race to help make the car more efficient. 

These Gen3 Formula E cars are powerful. Gen3 hit the track during last year’s season and introduced a rather significant power increase of 100 kilowatts over the previous generation, to a maximum of 350 kW. That’s equivalent to around 469 horsepower, and vehicles can reach a top speed of 174 miles per hour.

Watch the video above to hear more about how these tires perform, how they influence Hankook's passenger EV tire line, and why keeping these tires sustainable is so important to Hankook, including interviews with German Formula E driver, Maximilian Günther and Hankook’s North America president, Rob Williams. Tire Review: 

www.tirereview.com 
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