Pirelli says these new performance tires for electric vehicles makes the most what the i4 M50 has to offer.
Tire manufacturer Pirelli has just announced the BMW i4 M50 will now come from the factory equipped with its Pirelli P Zero Elect ultra high performance (UHP) EV-specific tires. These tires won’t be the same as the ones you can buy off the shelf, though, since they are actually a version that has been specially developed for this very quick electric BMW.
According to Pirelli, these tires differ from those designed for internal combustion-engined vehicles in several areas. Firstly, they are reinforced to be able to handle a heavier vehicle while still maintaining their shape even when the vehicle is being driven spiritedly and they also have a special rubber compound that strikes a balance between cornering performance and having relatively low rolling resistance.
You will be able to tell the BMW-specific version of this tire apart from the one you can get off the shelf by the star symbol displayed on the sidewall. This is how BMW-specific tires are usually marked, but this one just happens to also have the Elect logo signifying it is an EV tire.
When I drove the BMW i4 M50 around a twisty road last year, I was impressed by how much grip the vehicle had, thanks to the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tires that it was equipped with. However, those tires don’t really transmit a lot of feel through the steering, so hopefully these new Pirelli tires will bring back some tactility and make the BMW more enjoyable around a mountain road.
Pirelli also supplies this model of tire (although not the BMW-specific one) for the Polestar 2 BST Edition 270, the most aggressive version of the Chinese-Swedish electric sedan. There is a big difference between the handling characteristics of the regular Polestar 2 and the BST, part of that comes just from using these aggressive compound tires.
Keyword: BMW i4 M50 Now Comes With EV-Specific Pirelli P Zero Elect Tires