Thanks for sharing
The wear characteristics would come into play too, though. If pure rubber tires wear out faster than mostly-synthetic rubber tires, then you'd need even more natural rubber. On the other hand, if it wears much more slowly than typical modern tires, then maybe current rubber production is sufficient.
(EVs are also prone to somewhat faster tire wear due to additional weight.)
> The highest volume use of carbon black is as a reinforcing filler in rubber products, especially tires. While a pure gum vulcanization of styrene-butadiene has a tensile strength of no more than 2 MPa and negligible abrasion resistance, compounding it with 50% carbon black by weight improves its tensile strength and wear resistance as shown in the table below. (...) Practically all rubber products where tensile and abrasion wear properties are important use carbon black, so they are black in color. Where physical properties are important but colors other than black are desired, such as white tennis shoes, precipitated or fumed silica has been substituted for carbon black. Silica-based fillers are also gaining market share in automotive tires because they provide better trade-off for fuel efficiency and wet handling due to a lower rolling loss. Traditionally silica fillers had worse abrasion wear properties, but the technology has gradually improved to a point where they can match carbon black abrasion performance.
So, does this new technique have implications for tires? I don't know. Even if it can be applied industrially at scale, it might make tires less abrasion-resistant rather than more so. Or maybe it will increase the abrasion-resistance and tensile strength of the unfilled rubber, permitting the use of less filler for tires that are more expensive but longer-lasting.
The term plastic is so vague and overloaded now that it won't. Is an elastomer a plastic? Depends on who you ask. Does a plastic have to be derived from petroleum? Depends on who you ask.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum_kok-saghyz
> TKS was cultivated on a large scale in the Soviet Union during World War II. The Soviet Union cultivated Taraxacum kok-saghyz, together with Taraxacum hybernum and Scorzonera tau-saghyz, on a large scale between 1931 and 1950—notably during World War II—as an emergency source of rubber when supplies of rubber from Hevea brasiliensis in Southeast Asia were threatened. The United States, the UK, Germany, Sweden and Spain also cultivated the plant for the same reason. During this time period, the highest yields achieved by the U.S. reached 110 kg of rubber per hectare, while the USSR achieved yields of 200 kg of rubber per hectare. The Raisko sub-camp of Auschwitz was a German-operated production factory for the plant. Some of the women deported on the Convoi des 31000 worked on its production there.[8] With the conclusion of World War II and the return of affordable Hevea brasiliensis rubber (which has 8 to 10 times the yield[9]), the majority of T. kok-saghyz programs ceased.
Generally they use the same tires as normal cars/trucks/vans/suv's.
ie. My E-Transit uses the exact same tire as the regular Transit van because it was already rated for a vehicle that maxes out at nearly 10,000lb.
[1] Rubber that resists cracking: Improved process makes material 10 times stronger:
https://seas.harvard.edu/news/2025/05/rubber-resists-crackin...
