All electric sportscar Audi e-tron GT fitted with Hankook EV tyres

The Audi e-tron GT poses many interesting questions. Is it a sports saloon or grand tourer, that’s a big one to ponder, and it gave Hankook a lot to think about when designing the tyres for this scintillatingly quick EV.

As a sports car, the e-tron GT can take as little as 4.1 seconds to get from a standstill to 62mph, or even less in the RS version. The e-tron GT also comes with Audi’s grip-finding Quattro four-wheel drive as standard, so it can handle corners with speed and control.

All of that is what you’d expect from a car with as much as 530hp from its two electric motors, with one each to drive the front and rear wheels.

However, as the name suggests, the e-tron GT is also meant to be a grand tourer, a car to cover big miles in complete comfort. It needs to deliver its passengers to their destination feeling relaxed, which means the Audi has a fine balancing act to pull off between refinement and outright performance.

This is where Hankook’s purpose-designed Ventus S1 Evo 3 tyre plays a major part in making the e-tron GT fulfil its dual roles.

Even with such a wide tyre to generate the grip needed by the Audi, the Ventus has been developed to be quieter by three decibels than similar tyres.

To appreciate this, a three decibel drop is the difference between having a normal conversation at motorway speeds or having to shout to be heard, so it’s a significant amount of noise. This drop in noise from the tyres is also important in EVs where there’s no petrol or diesel engine to mask other noises.

The e-tron GT uses a high-tech rear axle with two gears, one for cruising and the other for that quick-fire acceleration. As the car shifts between these two modes depending on the driver’s inputs, the tyres must react just as quickly. It’s why the Hankook tyre uses ‘bead-packing’ technology, which prevents the tyre from flexing in corners to help it give precise handling and steering yet still be supple and silent.

All of this has spurred Hankook on to create a new process for how the Ventus tyre is made. For Audi e-tron GT drivers, it means a tyre that lasts for up to a third longer before it needs to be replaced, and an EV tyre that outperforms normal performance tyres for grip yet also has a reduced rolling resistance to give the best possible battery driving range.

Sounds complicated, and it is, but on the road is where it matters and anyone driving an Audi e-tron GT will quickly discover this is a sports car that’s also a brilliant grand tourer. Or is a fantastic long-distance touring car that’s an amazing sports saloon too? Either way, the e-tron GT is a terrific answer to whatever you ask of it.