Summer tyres should to excel on both wet grip and fuel efficiency. This is what many refer to as AA-rated summer tyres, as they rate A, which is the highest rating on the EU tyre marking. All tyres sold within EU will have this marking attached on the car tyres as a label, therefore the called the EU tyre label. In addition to wet grip and fuel efficiency the external tyre noise is also indicated on the tyre label. The tyre label make it very easy to compare tyres, to ensure that you get tyres that have a good rating.
The fuel efficiency is connected to the rolling resistance, which means that even for an electric car or hybrid, you benefit by low rolling resistance as you get further with every charge and thus save energy. The wear is also lower with low rolling resistance as the tyre generate less heat as they are rolling. For electric cars and hybrids this will be important as the wear tend to be higher both due to higher weight caused by the heavy battery packs and the higher torque that cause slippage. If you are purchasing tyres for an electric car, make sure that the tyres are recommended for that use before you buy them. If this is the case, you might also want to ensure that the tyres have a low external tyre noise as a high noise level can impact the driving comfort for a quiet electric car.
The EU tyre label is very useful when you compare between summer tyres, however if you are looking for winter tyres the wet grip at plus temperatures or the fuel efficiency when used outside its recommended usage, might not be representable for their performance during winter conditions. The same goes for the tyre noise. Unfortunately, there is no EU tyre label specially dedicated for winter tyres, so you should more rely on tyre tests and other information. For all-weather tyres it is a bit unsure how well you can rely on the information for overall performance, but you can at least see how well they will perform during the summer.
The wet grip during the summers is important as wet conditions is more slippery than dry roads, so that you will need a longer braking distance. If your tyres are not performing well during the heavy rain or on wet roads after the rain, then you will less safe when driving during the summers. You will also be more likely to experience aquaplaning, where you lose control as the tyres are not able to disperse the water that is present on the road surface, causing the tyres to lose contact with the road. As tyres wear out their properties will decrease so that the breaking distance will increase compared to when they were new and the probability of aquaplaning also increases.
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