Here’s a question most new EV owners haven’t thought about: when the tyres wear out, do you simply buy the same rubber your old petrol car used? According to Ceat, the answer should be no — and the gap between what EVs actually need and what buyers know is now a marketing problem as much as an engineering one.
Speaking to ETBrandEquity.com, Lakshmi Narayanan B, chief marketing officer at tyre maker Ceat, laid out why battery-powered cars are rewriting the rules of tyre wear, and why the industry has to “rethink standard maintenance habits”.
Two mechanical differences that change everything
Narayanan points to two features that separate EVs from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The first is instant torque, which delivers sharp acceleration from a standstill. The second is regenerative braking, which recovers energy as the car slows.
Both put loads on tyres that conventional ICE-era products were never designed to absorb repeatedly. The result is faster tread wear unless the tyre specification and the driver’s habits are matched to the vehicle.
There’s a software layer too. Where a typical ICE car in a market like India offers few or no drive modes, EVs can ship with anywhere between 6 and 27 distinct configurations. Leaving the car in Sport mode for the daily office commute means constant hard acceleration and deceleration cycles — and a much shorter tyre life.
The maintenance paradox
Ceat’s more interesting observation is behavioural. EVs have fewer moving parts and longer service intervals, which owners rightly see as a benefit. But fewer trips to the service centre means the basics get skipped.
- Tyre rotations get delayed or forgotten
- Wheel alignment — ideally every 5,000 km — slips
- Air pressure checks become irregular
Because EVs carry significantly more kerb weight thanks to heavy battery packs, the cost of that neglect is higher. Under-inflated tyres and deferred alignments translate into uneven wear and lower efficiency, which for an EV owner also means less range per charge.
Narayanan notes that roadside mechanics in major markets have adapted quickly to servicing electric two-wheelers. Four-wheeler passenger cars and SUVs are the riskier category, given higher speeds and heavier vehicles.
Where the marketing gap actually sits
Crucially, this isn’t a problem at the factory. Ceat says carmakers are specifying the correct factory-fitted tyres for their EVs. The gap opens later — at replacement time, when the consumer walks into a dealership or a local shop and makes the call themselves.
That is a classic category-education challenge, and one that marketers in any high-consideration, low-frequency purchase will recognise. Tyres are bought once every few years, mostly reactively, often on price. Introducing a new spec requirement into that moment requires the message to land where and when the decision happens — not in a brand film watched 18 months earlier.
Convergence, not separate product lines
Rather than build and stock parallel ranges for ICE and EV, tyre makers are converging their portfolios. Narayanan says the aim is to simplify logistics for distribution partners and keep costs down for consumers.
At the entry level, structural differences between ICE and EV tyres are minimal anyway. At the higher-performance end, manufacturers are launching universal “EV-ready” tyres that work across both propulsion types. He describes this as a trend that brings Indian manufacturing in line with global automotive practice.
It’s a smart commercial and communications choice. A single “EV-ready” badge is far easier to explain at the point of sale than a fragmented SKU list — and it removes the risk of a consumer buying the wrong thing.
Why it matters for marketers
The Ceat case is a useful template for any brand selling into a category that is being reshaped by a technology shift:
- Find the decision moment. Here it’s replacement, not purchase. Education budgets should follow.
- Simplify the range before you simplify the message. Convergence made the pitch communicable.
- Enlist the channel. Dealers, service centres and local mechanics are the last mile of the message.
- Sell the benefit the customer already cares about. For EV owners, that’s range and efficiency — not tread compounds.
As India’s EV base grows, the replacement cycle will only get bigger. The brands that own the explanation now are likely to own the aftermarket later.
Source: ETBrandEquity.com
