The Tire Cologne 2024: Hankook steps up its game with iON again!

At the Hankook booth, we met marketing and communications managers Sabine Riedel and Lisa Schmid, as well as sales director Roland Hehner and Holger Guse, truck sales manager. They were pleased that the abbreviation "iON" is almost synonymous with electric vehicle tires in the industry and confirmed the trend towards all-season tires in Europe. While these are always a compromise, they provide massive "work relief" especially in fleet management or rental fleets. Common in the USA, still a compromise in Europe, but according to Hehner, the demand is also rising here. This is why the iON FlexClimate has been introduced between the summer tire profile iON evo and the winter profile Hankook iON i*cept.

Hehner also points out that while the iON family was developed specifically for current and future generations of electric vehicles, all iON products can, in principle, also be used on conventional vehicles with combustion or hybrid engines, provided the dimensions are appropriate, and they can demonstrate their advantages over conventional tires. When we asked Hehner about these advantages, he immediately mentioned energy consumption, noise generation, resource conservation, and durability.

With the iON FlexClimate, special attention was given to high performance on both summer and moderate winter road conditions, according to Hehner. Highly important – unfortunately also due to climate change – is particularly the wet grip and a particularly low rolling resistance compared to conventional tires. For this iON, Hankook also paid extra attention to a weight-optimized, yet extremely robust construction because:

“Every gram we can save on the tire saves material, costs, and naturally CO2 – and in two ways: in manufacture AND use.”

Sanghoon Lee, President of Hankook Tire Europe, adds:

“Whether in dry weather, rain, or snow, our new all-season tires of the iON series deliver very high driving safety, help extend the range per battery charge, handle high vehicle weights confidently, and are still very quiet.”

Strong Performance Especially on Wet and Snowy Conditions

The main technical feature of the new iON FlexClimate, available in versions for cars and SUVs, is special 3D sipes in the tread. Thanks to these, it is designed to offer strong grip on both dry and wet roads and even in light snowfall. At the same time, the new ProGrip tread compound, using a combination of high-density silica and other sustainable raw materials, aims to provide optimized grip on wet roads.

To ensure sufficient performance on snow, the tread features a high density of sipes: so-called 2-in-1 sipes provide traction and braking performance even on snow in conjunction with additional grooves in the individual tread blocks. The iON FlexClimate is marked with the M+S and 3PMSF (Three-Peak-Mountain-Snow-Flake) symbols, making it suitable for year-round use in many parts of Europe.

The Belt Is Also Reinforced Due to the High Weights

Hehner goes into more detail: The higher vehicle mass typical of electric vehicles is addressed in the new iON FlexClimate with a reinforced belt featuring extremely durable aramid fibers and a load evenly distributed across the entire tread width. This allows for a higher load capacity per tire, effectively counteracts deformation forces at higher speeds, and ensures steering precision and good cornering stability. Furthermore, the particularly even load distribution increases the tread's durability. Thanks to the new Grip Boost technology, the sidewall stiffness of the tire was increased by 20 percent compared to conventional all-season tires for traditionally driven vehicles, which according to Hankook, results in more driving comfort and vehicle control.

Natural Resins and Oils on the Rise

The special tread compound with a high natural resin content in iON products ensures exemplary durability and reduced wear compared to conventional products. Simultaneously, it provides the necessary grip to safely transfer the high driving torques of electric vehicles to the road. The high proportion of natural oils in the compound makes the iON products overall more sustainable and is intended to positively affect tread durability. As a result, the Hankook iON FlexClimate requires less material for the same total mileage compared to conventional tires, making it overall lighter and saving additional energy during both driving and production.

Pssst – the Sound Absorber Technology Helps

Hehner also mentions the foams in the tires designed to make E-car tires quieter, which again demand effort and weight in manufacturing. This is why Hankook tries to avoid them. The iON tire family is therefore equipped with Hankook i Sound Absorber technology and is particularly aerodynamically designed, which together results in a particularly low noise level compared to standard tires.

Thanks to modern mixing processes and Hankook's Opti-Cure technology, the tread design of the iON FlexClimate also reduces unnecessary movements in the profile. This additionally reduces energy loss and thus rolling resistance.

The Big iON Leap: Hankook Introduces New iON Technology System

The new iON FlexClimate already benefits from the newly introduced "iON Innovative Technology". This involves a more detailed technology system developed by Hankook to further improve the efficiency in research and development, particularly for the company's EV tires. It encompasses four key technologies: i Sound Absorber (noise), i Super Mileage (wear), i Perfect Grip (traction), and i Extreme Lightness (rolling resistance). At the core of the system are 58 patented technologies that have been incorporated into the development of the iON tire family. These include, for instance, patents for noise reduction. One example to enhance mileage is the patented ProDurable Compound technology, which ensures a high tire lifespan through an advanced material mix, and Round Even, which guarantees particularly even pressure on the road.

To improve tire traction, driving behavior, and reduce rolling resistance, additional technologies are employed: These include interlocking 3D-Grip Claw sipes, the ProGrip Compound as a combination of high-density silica with other environmentally friendly materials, and ProCoupling, which achieves finer silica distribution through optimized mixing.

The new iON FlexClimate will initially be available from market launch in Europe starting October 2023 in eight dimensions popular in the EV segment for cars and SUVs. The size portfolio will then be quickly expanded to include other common dimensions between 17 and 21 inches.