I am seeing a consistent noticeable decrease in the Wh/Mi for my routine daily drives after I got new tires put on at the service center. I got the same brand/model tires as before. Nothing else changed. I have monitored it for about a month now and it is definitely worse. New tires wouldn't make a difference would it? Has anyone else seen this after getting new tires -- or maybe after a service appointment? I had them check the logs remotely and they didn't see anything. I might take it back to see if they can find something. It's about a 5-10% difference.
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Reduced Wh/Mi after new tires
- Thread starter cheers3893
- Start date
Sparrow
S105/ Roadster 189
I am assuming you are really saying your Wh/mi have gone up not down. Going down means you are more efficient.
Wycolo and Jeff have it right. Low tire pressure and new tires can easily account for the difference (assuming you actually mean increase in Wh/mi). Of course, the tire manufacturer can easily made an undocumented spec modification to the tires--and they often do (which is why you should rotate your tires so that all are worn out at the same time).
Better grip with new tires give better road handling and less energy efficiency. I've seen the difference with each new set I get... If you slightly overinflate, you may offset some of the changes... I'm sure someone will have issue with that, though.
Just with the terminology. Overinflation means inflating to more than the pressure marked on the sidewall when the tire is cold. Adjusting pressures to suit driving conditions is not overinflation. Bear in mind the vehicle placard pressure is a recommendation based on a set of assumptions--change the assumptions and you need to adjust the pressure.
Cold weather always increases energy usage because of heater use, more rolling resistance factors (rain, snow, denser air, and cold tires). Be sure to add air to the tires to compensate for the "shrinkage" in cold weather. A 25% reduction in MPG is not uncommon for ICE vehicles (although few actually track this). EVs are similar, but due to the advanced instrumentation, it's hard not to know that a reduction is happening
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Bugeater
Member
I've been concerned about higher energy use for a while. It too started when I got new tires. I was thinking it was alignment. I had issues with alignment for a while after getting the new tires. Even after the alignment issues were resolved, I still have issues with higher energy usage. I used to get 320 - 350. Now I'm regularly getting 380 - 450. It's been 6 months or more.
Bugeater
Member
The tires are stock 21". The same before and after. Haven't had time to check pressure. Maybe today.
Bugeater
Member
But the old tires had close to the same usage over their entire life. Why would the new tires suddenly be worse than the original tires were when they were new?
Just because the make and model of tire is the same, doesn't mean that the tires are the same. Manufacturers change the tires all the time to improve them in one way or another (improvements are in the eye of the beholder). Buying tires is somewhat similar to buying wallpaper. You want to get the same batch so that the wallpaper will match. That's the big reason to rotate tires so that they wear out at the same time (assumes the same size tire on all wheels.)
That said, it's normal for new tires to be less efficient than the tires they replace. The best efficiency is always at the lowest tread depth.
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