Mobile Tyre Fitting for Electric Vehicle Drivers in Southampton
If you are stood beside an electric car with a flat, the tyre is only half the problem – an EV has to be lifted in exactly the right place, and we carry the low-profile jacking equipment to do it.
A Flat on an Electric Car Is a Different Job
You have pulled over, put the hazards on, and you are looking at a flat tyre on a car with nothing useful in the boot. Many electric cars are sold without a spare wheel. There may be a sealant kit under the floor, and a sealant kit is no use at all against a sidewall tear or a tyre that has come off the bead.
So you are waiting for somebody to come to you, and it matters a great deal who that somebody is.
It matters because an electric vehicle cannot simply be jacked up like a petrol car. The battery pack is a large, flat, heavy unit bolted across the floor of the vehicle, and it sits low. The manufacturer specifies particular lifting points, normally reinforced pads on the sill, and what lies either side of them is battery enclosure, cooling pipework and cabling.
A jack put down in the wrong place can damage the enclosure - and that is not a repair anybody wants to be discussing after a puncture.
The other thing that catches EV drivers out is how quickly tyres go down to the legal limit. An electric car is heavier than the petrol version of the same shape, because the battery adds a lot of weight low in the body. It also delivers full torque the instant you touch the pedal. That weight and that torque both act through the same four patches of rubber, and the tread wears faster than most drivers are expecting.
Moving from a petrol car to an electric one often means a set does not last as long as the set before it, which is worth knowing before the tread depth catches you out.
What Happens When We Get to You
Abu Bakar or a skilled mobile technician comes out in a fully equipped van - to the roadside, to your driveway, or to the workplace car park. Abu Bakar has over 15 years of hands-on experience in the trade, and electric vehicles are simply part of the work now. The first thing that happens is a look at the car rather than at the tyre.
We identify the vehicle, find the manufacturer's designated lifting points, and set up on those and nothing else.
The jack is a low-profile unit carried specifically for electric vehicles, because an EV sits close to the ground and a standard trolley jack will not clear the underside of a lot of them. With the wheel off, we assess the tyre properly. If the damage is a straightforward puncture in the tread area and it is safe and legal to repair, we will repair it rather than sell you a tyre you do not need.
If it has to be replaced, we fit the new tyre, balance the wheel on the van with dynamic balancing equipment, and torque the nuts to the correct setting before we leave.
Tyre choice matters more on an electric car than most people realise. Rolling resistance feeds straight into your range, and road noise is far more noticeable when there is no engine covering it. EVs also often run a higher load rating than the equivalent petrol model, and that rating is stamped on the sidewall of what is already on the car.
We carry Michelin, Pirelli, Continental, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Dunlop and Yokohama, along with Nexen, Hankook, Firestone and Kumho, and we will tell you plainly what suits the car and what suits your budget. What we do not do is touch the battery, the charging system or anything electrical. We fit tyres.
What comes out with the van
- Low-profile jacking on the manufacturer's designated lifting points, not wherever fits
- Nothing loaded through the battery enclosure, cooling pipework or cabling
- Puncture assessed first and repaired where it is safe and legal to do so
- Load rating, speed rating and size matched to what your car already runs
- Dynamic wheel balancing done there and then on the van
- Wheel nuts torqued to the correct setting before we drive away
What You Pay, and When
You get a price before anybody sets off. Tell us the registration or the size on the sidewall, tell us where the car is, and we will quote the job up front. Nothing is added to that figure afterwards. If your wheel carries a locking nut and the key is lost or the nut has rounded off, extraction is a separate piece of work and a charge may apply for it - we will tell you what that charge is when we quote, before we dispatch, and not once we are stood at your car.
Payment happens when the job is finished and you are ready to drive away, never before we arrive. No need to hunt for a cash machine. We carry a mobile card terminal that takes contactless, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa and Mastercard, and we will take a bank transfer or cash instead if that is easier where you happen to be standing.
How Soon Can Somebody Be With Me?
We operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so there is no wrong time to ring. The response window for your area is shown below, and it is honest about distance – a call in Southampton is not the same drive as a call in Chichester, and we would rather say so now than leave you stood on a verge wondering.
We monitor the M27, M3 and A31 and route around whatever is actually happening on them. And when you call, you speak directly to the technician rather than a call centre, so the answer you get about where we are and when we will reach you comes from the person driving the van.
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Hamble-le-Rice
Response window 45–60 minutes
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Winchester
Response window 45–60 minutes
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New Forest
Response window 45–60 minutes
Totton and the northern forest sit in the core window; Lymington and the southern edge are an outer-zone run.
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Salisbury
Response window 60–90 minutes
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Bournemouth
Response window 60–90 minutes
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Chichester
Response window 60–90 minutes
Where We Come Out To
We are based in Southampton and cover Hamble-le-Rice, Winchester, the New Forest, Salisbury, Bournemouth and Chichester. The M27, M3 and A31 are the roads we watch most closely, because those are the worst places to be standing when a tyre lets go at speed.
It does not have to be the roadside. EV work is often better done at a home address or a workplace car park, where the car is on level ground and nobody is stood near moving traffic. If the tyre is still holding air and the car is safe to drive, that is usually the better option – tell us where it will be parked and when, and we will come to it there.
Where we cover
ABS Tyres, Southampton
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EV Tyre Questions Drivers Actually Ask Us
Can you lift my electric car without damaging the battery?
That is precisely what the low-profile EV jacking equipment on the van is for. An electric car sits low and the battery pack runs across the floor of it, so we lift only on the reinforced points the vehicle manufacturer designates, usually on the sill. If we are not certain of the lifting points on your particular model, we establish them before the jack goes anywhere near the car.
My EV has no spare wheel. Is that a problem?
No, and it is one of the main reasons EV drivers call a mobile fitter rather than changing a wheel themselves. We bring the tyre to you and fit it on the spot. Give us the vehicle registration, or a photo of the sidewall markings on the tyre you have on now, and the right one comes out on the van.
Why do my EV tyres wear out faster than they did on my old car?
Two reasons, and both are simply part of the car. An electric vehicle carries a heavy battery pack, so there is more weight pressing down on the same four contact patches. And an electric motor delivers full torque the moment you press the pedal, which asks a great deal of the driven tyres. It is normal rather than a fault, but it does mean looking at your tread more often than you used to.
Do I need special EV tyres?
Not necessarily, but the tyre does need to be right for the car. The size, load rating and speed rating are all stamped on the sidewall of what is fitted now, and we match those. Some manufacturers specify a tyre developed for electric vehicles, built for lower rolling resistance and reduced noise, which helps range and makes for a quieter cabin. We will explain what we can get you and what difference it makes, and you decide.
Do you work on the battery or the charging system?
No. We fit and supply tyres, repair punctures where it is safe and legal to do so, balance wheels and extract locking nuts. Anything to do with the battery, the charging equipment or the vehicle electrics belongs with a qualified EV technician, and we will tell you that plainly rather than have a go at it.
Other things we can help with
Call and Speak to the Technician
Tell us the vehicle registration, the tyre size if you have it to hand, and exactly where the car is. If you are on the roadside, make yourself safe before anything else: everybody out through the passenger doors and behind the barrier if you can reach it, or belted in with the hazards going if getting out means stepping into traffic. Then call, and stay where you are while we make our way to you.
24/7 Urgent Roadside Dispatch Aiming to arrive within 45–60 minutes