LONDON—United Kingdom-based tire startup Enso Tyres Ltd. is launching a pay-per-mile tire for electric vehicles in collaboration with Zeti, a digital fleet financing provider.
The agreement is focused on Enso's TX1 EV tire, billed as "the world's first range-extending A-rated tire specifically designed for electric taxis."
The product will be fitted to more than 100 electric LEVC vehicles, ahead of Enso's wider rollout of its tires to individual consumers, the firm announced Aug. 9.
The U.K. firm described London electric taxis as a "natural market" for its tires, as the combination of high-mileage, heavier weight and higher torque of these vehicles accelerates tire wear.
Enso Founder and CEO Gunnlaugur Erlendsson said that the "traditional tire industry business model incentivizes volume and indirectly creates huge levels of tire pollution, and enormous tire waste at end-of-life."
As EV sales grow, this problem is getting worse, according to Erlendsson, given that they wear tires 20- to 50-percent faster than conventional powertrain vehicles due to their heavier weight and higher torque.
Enso's pay-per-mile tire, he said, "turns the traditional tire distribution model on its head by selling miles rather than tires, incentivizing more durable products."
The new service will be powered by Zeti's patent pending Zero FinTech platform, which employs telematics devices in each EV to gather real-time data, such as the mileage and vehicle health.
Zero then combines the telematic data with smart contracts to calculate billing on a pooled pay-per-mile basis for both the vehicle and the fleet.
"We've proved the pay-per-mile model for financing vehicle fleets, so why not also apply the model to the tires of those same vehicles?" said Dan Saunders, Zeit founder and CEO.
"(Enso's) product speaks to exactly what we are looking to achieve as a company—accelerating the way to cleaner fleets and lower pollution through innovation," he added.
"Working with Enso now gives us a holistic solution for fleet owners, making running their fleets simple, affordable and transparent."
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