Older EVs failed tire-tread checks more often than gas models, 26 versus 18 per 1,000

Out of every 1,000 electric cars aged three to eight years that went through a British roadworthiness inspection, 26 showed tread below the legal limit. The rate for gasoline cars in the same dataset was 18 per 1,000. A second tally, tire cuts deep enough to expose the internal cords, ran 30 per 1,000 for EVs against 14 per 1,000 for gasoline cars.

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The numbers come from the analyst New Automotive, which worked through roughly 1.6 million EV inspections and 17.9 million combustion-engine inspections from the United Kingdom’s MOT test. The gap is small in absolute terms, a handful of cars in every thousand, yet it points the same way on both measures, and the sample is large enough that the difference is hard to wave off as noise. Because the data covers British roads and British test rules, it describes how that fleet is wearing its rubber rather than how American drivers treat theirs. The three-to-eight-year band also matters: those cars are old enough to have worn through their first set of tires and young enough that most are still on their original owner’s maintenance schedule.

Tread depth and cord cuts in the three-to-eight-year-old EV fleet

Autoblog news editor Rex Sanchez reported the findings on Nov. 8, drawing on a write-up in Autocar that credits New Automotive’s report. Autocar’s original page could not be opened while this article was prepared, so the inspection figures here rest on Autoblog’s account. That account offers three explanations: battery weight, instant torque that puts more force through the contact patch on every launch, and neglected upkeep, since cars that need little routine servicing may also get fewer tire checks.

Autoblog adds that a Tesla Model 3 Performance reaches 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, and it suggests a gentler throttle as the cheapest fix for owners who want their tires to last. The advice is practical, though it addresses only one of the three explanations.

The two measures describe different problems. Tread below the legal limit is slow wear that regular checks should catch, while a cut that exposes the cords is physical damage. EVs lead on both in this data, and the cut rate is more than double the gasoline figure, 30 against 14 per 1,000, which makes it the larger relative gap of the two.

Inspection counts cannot prove any of the three causes. A test records the state of a tire on the day it is checked, not the way the car was driven to reach that state, and a three-year-old EV and a three-year-old gasoline car rarely have the same owners, mileage or tire brands.

Earlier British studies of electric car tire failures

The pattern is not new. In 2023 the Institute of the Motor Industry analyzed 2021 MOT data from 150 local authorities and found a 40% higher tire failure rate for electric vehicles than for petrol cars. Its research also found that about one in five EVs had failed an MOT since 2000, against an average of 29% for petrol cars, with newer EVs failing more often on dangerous items. IMI chief executive Steve Nash told the Press Association that electric cars are simply going to wear through tires more, pointing to greater weight, higher torque and harsh braking.

A New AutoMotive study commissioned by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association reached a similar verdict. Writing for Electrifying on Sept. 22, Mike Askew reported that tire defects were twice as likely to trigger an MOT failure in an EV as in a petrol car. The same work found EVs failing overall at 12% against 11.7% for petrol cars in the 20,000 to 40,000 mile band, while at 90,000 to 120,000 miles the order reversed, with 16.5% for EVs against 22.1% for petrol cars. Tires, in other words, are a specific weak spot in an otherwise competitive inspection record.

Cost sharpens the issue. Autoblog says specialized EV tires can cost up to 50% more than conventional ones. The British Tyre Manufacturers Association puts tire failure rates at 6% for EVs, 4.7% for diesels and 4.3% for gasoline cars, a ladder that follows the same order as the inspection data.

Tire wear particles and the 6PPD-quinone problem in the United States

Faster wear is also an environmental question. Autoblog says the report argues that quicker tire wear would not erase the lower lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of EVs, but worn rubber sheds particles with their own chemistry. A tire additive called 6PPD reacts with ozone to form 6PPD-quinone, which stormwater carries into streams. The Environmental Protection Agency’s 6PPD-quinone page, last updated Oct. 19, 2026, notes that a 2021 paper in Science linked coho salmon deaths to the compound and lists an agency-wide action plan covering fiscal years 2025 through 2028.

Regulators are starting to treat tire and brake dust as emissions in their own right. Autoblog says plans under Euro 7 in Britain would limit tire abrasion and brake-wear particles, while the EPA continues its work on 6PPD-quinone in the United States. The two efforts treat tire wear as a pollution source whatever powers the car, and Autoblog connects the threads by noting that a faster-wearing tire sheds more material.

What the dataset cannot yet say is whether 26 per 1,000 reflects heavy cars, heavy right feet or light maintenance. New Automotive’s report, as relayed by Autoblog, offers all three explanations and settles none of them.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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