Less than a year after announcing its own lineup of EV-specific tires, Hankook has begun selling its iON evo all season tires in the US to support both sedans and SUVs. These new tires come in a variety of different sizes and should help reduce noise while simultaneously help maximize range.
Hankook Tire & Technology is a South Korean tire company founded over 80 years ago whose name directly translates to “Korea Tire.” It currently sits as one of the largest tire manufacturers on the planet and remains a particularly recognized name in motorsports like Formula One.
In 2020, Hankook Tire announced it had been chosen by the FIA to provide tires to Gen 3 vehicles of the Formula E World Championship, replacing Michelin. Following competitors like Bridgestone and Pirelli, Hankook Tire has also developed its own line of tires that cater specifically to the unique driving of an EV.
We shared Hankook’s first news of its iON line of tires last March, when the company stated it would be launching winter and summer EV tires for drivers in Europe, in addition to all-season tires for US consumers. Today, Hankook has officially launched those tires in the US ahead of their racing debut in Formula E in early 2023.
Hankook’s EV tires to offer better grip, longer range
Hankook Tire shared specifications of its new line of iON evo AS tires in a press release today. The standard and SUV versions of the EV tires combine to offer 26 different sizes in support rim diameters between 18 and 22 inches.
Hankook states that the iON tires are built using its “EVolution” compound, comprised of high concentration silica to evenly distribute road pressure and extend the tire’s life. The company’s optimized curing technology and advanced compound also reduces rolling resistance, helping enhance battery life and extend EV range. Hankook vice president of RE development Kijong Kil spoke:
The iON evo AS and iON evo AS SUV were developed for the EV driver that wants to maximize their driving experience without sacrificing the unique benefits of this new class of vehicle. Hankook’s EVolution technology, Hankook Sound Absorber and EV Contour Technology come together as the basis for an innovative, all-season tire that delivers outstanding results for EVs.
Other benefits include knurling technology inside the tire grooves that reduce tread pattern noise while optimizing noise-absorbing material inside the tire cavity itself to reduce cabin noise, particularly at high speeds. The iON EV tires also include Hankook’s EV Contour Technology, which increases lateral rigidity by 25% and cornering rigidity by 20% (compared to all-season touring tires). The result is better grip for EVs, which are significantly heavier than traditional ICE models.
Both tires are available in the US now and come with a 50,000 mile warranty.
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Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, EnBW’s He Dreiht, just hit a big milestone: The first enormous turbine is now up in the North Sea.
He Dreiht – which means “it spins” in Low German – is using Vestas’s massive 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the first project in the world to install them. Just one spin of one of the rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day.
When it’s finished, He Dreiht will have 64 mega turbines cranking out 960 megawatts (MW) of clean power – enough to supply around 1.1 million homes. And it’s being built without any government subsidies.
EnBW, one of Germany’s major energy companies, has been working in offshore wind for more than 15 years, but He Dreiht is their biggest project yet. “It will play a key role in helping us to significantly grow our renewable energy output from 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, who heads up EnBW’s generation portfolio development.
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The project is a win for Vestas, too. “With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system,” said Nils de Baar, president of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.
He Dreiht is located about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Helgoland. At peak times, more than 500 workers will be out at sea building the farm, using a fleet of more than 60 ships. EnBW’s offshore team in Hamburg is running the show.
The installation process is a major operation. The 64 foundations were already set in the seabed last year. Parts for the turbines are loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in Esbjerg, Denmark, and shipped out in a 12-hour journey to the construction site. From there, the turbines are lifted into place. Meanwhile, crews are also working on internal wind farm cabling.
A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.
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Tesla has released a quick update about its Tesla Semi factory in Nevada. It says that it is on track for volume production of the electric semi truck in 2026.
The Tesla Semi was first scheduled to go into production in 2019, but it has faced numerous delays.
Now, it appears that there is finally some momentum to bring it to volume production.
For the last two years, Tesla has been working to build a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where it builds the battery packs and drive units for most of its electric vehicles built in North America.
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Today, Tesla released a “progress update on the factory, confirming that it finished building and it’s now working on deploying the production lines:
Tesla had previously mentioned aiming for volume production by 2025, but it is now only talking about starting production toward the end of the year and ramping up next year.
The automaker reiterated its planned production capacity of 50,000 units.
They now expect to take deliveries of their first trucks later in 2026 and said that the price has increased “dramatically,” leading them to scale back their pilot program from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks.
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2022. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
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Vietnamese solar panel maker Boviet Solar just opened the doors to its first US factory — a huge new PV module plant in Greenville, North Carolina.
The company dropped $294 million into the state-of-the-art facility, which will pump out Boviet’s Gamma Series monofacial and Vega Series bifacial solar panels. They’re using advanced PERC and N-Type solar cell tech, which basically means these panels are built to deliver higher efficiency and better performance across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects.
The Greenville factory’s first phase is now online with an annual PV module output capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). For Phase 2, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, Boviet will invest another $100 million to add 600,000 square feet and ramp up to another 2 GW. It will make high-efficiency solar cells.
Once both phases are complete, Boviet’s campus will cover more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and R&D space. It’s one of the biggest clean energy manufacturing projects North Carolina has ever seen.
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The jobs impact is significant, too. The first phase will create 460 skilled local jobs. Phase 2 is expected to add another 908, bringing the total to over 1,300 direct jobs, plus nearly 2,000 more indirect jobs across the region. That’s good news for Pitt County’s economy, real estate market, and workforce training programs.
“This facility is not just creating jobs, but creating opportunity, innovation, and a stronger foundation for eastern North Carolina,” said Senator Kandie Smith. Governor Josh Stein added that Boviet Solar’s move shows how North Carolina is leading the way in clean energy growth.
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