Hankook Tire helps Volkswagen set Guinness World Record for the longest journey by electric car
Nashville, TN – Hankook Tire has successfully completed the “Volkswagen ID.4: Great Roadshow through the U.S.” with its electric vehicle-specific tire Kinergy AS EV. The tour team has newly set a Guinness World Records title for the longest journey by electric car (non-solar) in a single country with an EV, breaking the previous record set in 2019.
From July 13 to October 18, the new electric car from Volkswagen, VW ID.4 EV, traveled across all 48 contiguous U.S. states in all-electric mode. Long-distance driver Rainer Zietlow, who had been a part of the “Volkswagen ID.3 Germany Tour” last year, joined again to create another legacy with photographer Derek Collins sitting next to him. Hankook Tire, which also sponsored last year’s Germany Tour by supplying its tires, once again supported the success of the USA tour by fitting its Kinergy AS EV tires in size 235/55R19 on the front and 255/50R19 on the rear.
The tour started at VW headquarters in Herndon, Virginia where it made its way through the northern part of the U.S. to the West Coast. The VW ID.4 visited 622 Volkswagen dealerships and three Hankook Tire dealerships along the way: Tire Rack in South Bend, Ind., Discount Tire in Phoenix, Ariz., and Les Schwab in Redmond, Ore. It also visited the Hankook Tennessee Plant in Clarksville, Tenn. before crossing back via a southern route to reach Volkswagen Group of America’s Virginia facility as its final destination. The travelers made 208 stops at Electrify America charging stations by the time the tour ended.
Upon the arrival at the last stop, Guinness World Records announced that the team was awarded the title for the longest continuous journey by electric vehicle (nonsolar) in a single country. It broke the previous record set by “Volkswagen ID.3 Germany Tour” by bypassing the driven mileage by more than double.
“Breaking this record is a testament to the reliability of the VW ID.4 and Hankook’s Kinergy AS EV tires, which provided low rolling resistance and enabled me to stop at fewer charging stations and drive this tour with confidence,” said Rainer Zietlow, driver and founder of Challenge4. “From the desert terrain in Nevada to the heavy rain in Oregon and windy parts of the Midwest, Hankook’s Kinergy AS EV tires provided the grip I needed and superior stability and handling making their performance imperative to the success of this tour.”
Hankook Tire’s Kinergy AS EV, which was mounted on the vehicle throughout the entire trip, is a tire equipped with top-tier technology to complement the unique characteristics of EVs. It provides a hyper-low noise environment optimized for EVs by applying techniques that reduce the noise produced from the tire and the road. Its special block design pattern offers supreme driving performance on par with ultra-high-performance tires while the tread maintains optimum grip force to deliver the high instant torque of an electric motor to the road without loss. Furthermore, a new compound and silica reinforcement with increased dispersibility improves wear resistance.
“As a long-term Challenge4 and Volkswagen tire partner, Hankook Tire is very proud to be part of the record-breaking moment and we would like to congratulate the team on this new accomplishment,” said Sooil Lee, President and CEO of Hankook Tire & Technology. “Understanding that this journey would require tires that can withstand the most diverse conditions across different parts of the country, we were confident about taking on this role with our EV-dedicated tire as it’s capable of providing exceptional grip and handling as well as improved durability with low rolling resistance.”
Hankook Tire has steadily increased its presence in the tire segment for electric vehicles through forward-looking investments in R&D and the use of leading technology. The company is not only equipping leading EVs with its Kinergy AS EV as well as Ventus S1 evo 3 ev tires, but also is selected as the exclusive tire supplier for the “ABB FIA Formula E World Series” from the 2022/23 season onwards, where the new, fully electric, third-generation racing cars will compete around the world in their own FIA World Championship.
Their journey has been chronicled at vwid4-usatour.com, where visitors to the website can view images and a map highlighting the path of the tour.