Further to this question I stumbled across This video shows how tyres can make a massive difference for EVs (motor1.com) that provided the maths on why smaller wheels are better.

 

The calculations are somewhat simplistic but the answer is without question. Put the optional 20" wheels on the Ariya and, depending upon your driving style and use, you will give up 5 or 6% range compared to the standard 19" wheels. (20" on e4orce). Add to that the extra capital cost, more expensive tyres, increased noise, less isolation from the road and increased possibility of kerbing the rims and you need to feel really good about how they look to go 20". Tyres are 235/55 R19 & 255/45 R20.

 

I’m running on 20” and seeing 3.2 to 3.5kWh/mile at motorway speeds in the current weather. Which seems fine to me! The car configuration on Nissans website changes the ‘expected’ range when you option the 20” wheels, not by 6% mind you.

 

They do look good though!

 

Mine are 19. I was not interested in 20's as it appeared to me merely cosmetic, I now understand it's actually worse.

 

Fair enough, when my car is finally delivered it will have 20s as they are part of the Sport Pack. For me, the cost of the car is high in the first place so needs to look the part, and any difference in consumption from a financial point of view is a drop in the water on a £60k car.

 

Depends on the wheel size, for the 20” they are fitting Dunlop Maxx 2 which have a load rating of 101. Which is mainly because the car with the 87kWh battery is 2100kgs.

I have seen Ariya’s with Bridgestones too, I think they were on 19” wheels though.

They are not ‘special’ EV tyres they just have a high load rating.

 

The e4force Evolve and performance (19 & 20 inch wheels pespectively) have best part of 13% range difference on WLTP. And on that cycle acceleration and speeds will be identical. Going from 1 to 2 motors on the 19" tyred Evolve only loses 10% of WLTP but in that case, the difference is a lot of weight and additional thermodynamic losses. Of course, it's all personal choice thankfully. Even if one loses 6% range off an 85 kWh battery car, it will still go way further than mine with a 60kWh capacity.

 

E-4orce Evolve and the deleted Performance model are not comparable as completely different motors. If you want to compare based on wheel size then it is the difference between adding the Sport Pack and not. With e-4orce Evolve with Sport Pack (20s) is 309 miles, without (19s) is 314. Like I said, a drop in the ocean...

 

It's not the only consideration though. The video below opened my eyes to additional issues to take into account. Over 3 years of ownership what may seem trivial mounts up.

(52) What makes EV tires different, and why should you fit them! 🔌 - YouTube

 

Sure, I don't think we had been discussing using OEM vs non-OEM tyres and then the ev vs non-ev specific ones and the difference there would be. That was indeed part of the original question, but in terms of wheel size which was what this topic did move onto, the manufacturer information in relation to the different wheel/tyre size does not show the suggested earlier percentages of range difference when you compare like for like cars.
For tyres, there is this page on the Nissan website and they only suggest the Bridgestone or Dunlop (Sumitomo) for 19's and the Dunlop or Michelin for the 20's - European TYRE LABEL
I know when I do need tyres I will be sticking with the OEM recommended ones which for me will probably be the Dunlop's.

 

I was surprised to see the Ariya coming out with Dunlop tyres when all marketing and demo cars in both 19 and 20 inch had either Bridgestone or Michelin tyres.
Paying £50k for a the top Evolve 87kw should really come with better tyres. The problem is these Dunlop Sport Maxx 050 are not that good.
Primary issue is that they are very slippery when damp/wet and I am not the only one to say this. Plenty of other users on other cars have said this.
These tyres have B rating for wet weather and are classed as summer tyres but I would certainly say I have never experienced 4 wheel drift like I have in these things.
I tried to find out more about these tyres and all I could really find out is that they are 'OLD', discontinued and replaced by the 060 edition which has 40% more tyre life.
So Nissan must have scooped up some 'DEAL' to get these on all the Ariyas and to forgo the Bridgestone/Michelin on the 19 inch models at least.

A review from tyrereviews.com said "Actually i m using sp sport maxx 050 instead of 050 plus. It was an OE tire for my 2016 lexus rx350 f sport. Well, i comment this tire is just above average after using for more than 5000km. It works fine when dry but really slippery when wet, not to mention how it performs when aquaplaning. "
Another review on clublexus.com: "DUNLOP SP SPORT MAXX 050 are terrible experience. Not sure if others have experienced with the stock tires on their GS. I had a close call on the Dunlop SP Sport MAXX 050 tires. The streets had a mist from the fog only. I wasn't even driving fast and my tires lost traction while making a left turn. The car slide to the right quite a bit before I got the controls back. There were nothing on the roads."
And final review clip says: "Slightly wet roads are very dangerous."
Nobody in an Ariya is racing around but needing to trust your tyres is hard when you have these 'special' tyres on your car.
Video on the difference on the 050 vs 060+ tyres:

One more link: Nissan Factory Tyres News: Sumitomo Rubber Industries : DUNLOP “SP SPORT MAXX 050” Selected as Factory Standard Tires for the New NISSAN ARIYA Crossover EV | MarketScreener

I am sure someone will say they are great tyres but I am certainly not impressed.

 

I was surprised to see the Ariya coming out with Dunlop tyres when all marketing and demo cars in both 19 and 20 inch had either Bridgestone or Michelin tyres.

Mine has Bridgestone (Advance with 19” wheels)

 

I’ve got an ex demo car with 19” Dunlops and they seem ok to me.

 

@RamblyRunner - How would you like to trade up for some Dunlop's

 

The 20” Maxx2’s that are fitted to my Ariya seem good enough to me, in the first couple of weeks of ownership we had some of the wettest and heaviest downpours I have experienced on a trip down the M1, no sign of any aqua planing or poor braking performance. Grip and handling fine also. In the recent snow we have had they struggled a bit on compacted snow, but these are summer tyres so didn’t expect much else.

Would I put them on at replacement time? Probably not, I have always opted for Michelin and will probably do so again.

 

when we had the demo for two hours it had Bridgestones and these were very quiet on the concrete A180. Our Ariya has the Dunlops which are very noisy on the same road. i would expect the dunlops to grip well though being an ex Dunlop employee of 42 years.

 

I have Dunlops on my Evolve. I have found these tyres the worst I've ever had! I very soon after receiving delivery and driving enquired about having better tyres and as Winter approached in my first year I asked about all-weathers and was told that there are 'only standard specialist tyres' (which sounded like a lot of bull). I'm no expert on tyres etc but I know that I don't feel safe in wet conditions. I feel the car aquaplaning, slipping sideways, wheel spin so regularly I think people must think I'm an eco-friendly posh girl racer! I am paying a lot of money to lease a vehicle I have zero confidence in if the conditions are anything but dry and fair.

 

Nothing stopping you fitting winter tyres or any other type of tyre you like to your car, but the leasing company certainly arent going to replace them for you.

Many Eco/EV tyres are poor in the wet. Its a pretty simple tradeoff between wet grip and rolling resistance. I wouldnt fit any sort of Eco/EV tyre to my car.

 

Actually I just had Bridgestones put on the front and can already feel the difference. And no cost to me since its a fleet vehicle.

 

Many of the tyres factory-fitted to EVs are highly biased towards a. quietness and b. efficiency. Since tyres are a zero sum game (all other things being equal), this inevitably comes at the cost of something else - usually some combination of reduced braking distance, poorer wet road holding and poorer resistance to aquaplaning. To get the best WLTP number and quietest ride, they often make a very significant compromise and one which I'd not favour if I had the choice. Basically, I'd rather trade 5 miles off the range and gain a bit of road noise for a tyre that handled disproportionately better in the damp/cold/rain.

In essence, there isn't such as thing as an EV-specific tyre. This in terms of the compound chemistry, tread pattern and construction. You'll generally find that a tyre with a particular combination of these can be found equally on some ICEV cars as well as some EVs, although probably not on the same model (if it comes in electric and petrol versions).

There are some cases where the tyre size (in terms of diameter/width/aspect ratio) is pretty unique to a particular EV (such as for the BMW i3). But how it's built isn't unique.

Nowadays there are plenty of mainstream all-season tyres that are also certified for use on EVs and you may hear these referred to in publicity as if they're unique to EVs. But this is more that they've been tested in their higher-weight versions explicitly with various EVs (which is good).

 

Most modern cars are set up with a degree of understeer. To maximise safety with this set up, the best or newest tyres should always be on the back. That may be counter-intuitive to some but look it up on any manufacturers website. Of course, with the FWD versions of the Ariya, the fronts will go first but that means put the part worn tyres on the front and the new ones on the back.

 

whatever i have got on mine (i think thye are dunlop) will be repced by somethig different as soon as possible. The grip is hopeless. Wheels spin when setting off from a junction (and this is in eco mode so no risk of excessive torque spin). Even overtakign the other day (accelearting from 45-60 the wheels were spinning as we accelerated.