As extreme as it gets – Arctic Trucks relies on Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 44 tires on its vehicles when crossing Antarctica with the Transglobal Car Expedition team
Tue February 18 9:00 AM 2025 in category Articles
The world’s first crossing of East to West Antarctica involved driving across the coldest area in the world, reaching altitudes up to 3650 meters. The team experienced both extreme clarity and zero visibility conditions, with snow varying from very soft to hard-packed sastrugi.
With enormous distances between fuel or support, highly specialized vehicles were essential, and the tires played a central role. Emil Grimsson, the expedition leader for the Antarctica crossing, expressed his satisfaction with the cooperation with Nokian Tyres on the Hakkapeliitta 44-inch tire. "This tire gives us a big advantage over what we used previously and other tires available in this category. Not only is it superior in soft snow conditions but also increases our fuel efficiency by 15-20% on average, a super important factor for our services and cost management," says Emil Grimsson.
This expedition marked the first test of using the newly developed AT44 Ford F350 6x6 in Antarctica, although they had been tested in the Arctic, including taking the Transglobal team from Edmonton to the Arctic town of Cambridge Bay.
The original plan was for the Transglobal Car team to exit Antarctica via Marguriete Bay and for the vehicles to return to Union Glacier to be stored for the winter just in time before the last flight out of the season. However, due to heavy ice conditions and an extra stop of the icebreaker, the team arrived at Larsemann Hills nine days behind schedule, making the original plan an extreme challenge. Despite this, they decided to give it a try.
Acclimatizing from sea level, the team faced driving over 3000 meters altitude within 400 km and staying above this altitude for the next 2-3 thousand km. Antarctica has comparatively lower oxygen levels than the equator, and it was going to get freezing. Being "in a hurry" but having concerns about the team's ability to perform, some compromises had to be made.
Each vehicle had 550-liter tanks and additionally pulled up to 4500 liters of fuel on plastic sledges. Pushing through some days with complete whiteout and crossing areas with large sastrugi put extra strain on the vehicles and especially the fuel sledges, which required repairs most days.
1200 km from the South Pole, one of the cars had starting issues, taking 40 hours to get going again. This incident highlighted that attaining the original plan was wishful thinking, so the team decided to turn to plan B, finishing the crossing by going to Ronne Iceshelf (in Constellation Inlet).
The team of 10 people arrived at the South Pole on January 5th and celebrated this milestone. They were invited to visit the South Pole station, where they learned about the operations and impressive scientific research being conducted there. On January 7th, the team continued driving to Union Glacier, arriving late on January 10th after completing over 300 km in whiteout conditions. On January 13th, with better weather, they drove to Constellation Inlet and celebrated the completion of crossing Antarctica coast to coast.
The Transglobal Car Expedition now continues driving north along South America, with plans to end the expedition around the world in New York in the coming April. This expedition started on January 10th, 2024, and reached the North Pole in April. This overall project around the world is an enormous challenge.
Special vehicles
Driving thousands of kilometers through extreme conditions takes years of preparation. One key element is, of course, the vehicles used. Arctic Trucks specializes in converting Toyota Hilux and Ford F350 vehicles, re-engineered and built to fit large tires, a 6x6 system, and hundreds of other changes made to meet the challenges of Antarctica expeditions.
Hakkapeliitta 44 tires save fuel and plow effortlessly through snow
Collaboration between Arctic Trucks and Nokian Tyres goes back several years. In 2017, it produced custom-designed Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 44 – an impressive tire with a diameter of over a meter, created specifically in collaboration with Arctic Trucks. "Despite its significant size, the tire moves through deep snow with ease," says Kalle Kaivonen, R&D director at Nokian Tyres. "We are thankful for Arctic Trucks for throwing us this extreme challenge. The width of the tread as well as the tire’s maximal airspace guarantee that snow poses no challenge to the Hakkapeliitta 44!"
Real-life tests in Arctic and Antarctic conditions confirm Hakkapeliitta 44’s suitability for extreme conditions. "After we started using the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 44 tires, the Hilux 6x6 is not really challenged by snow conditions and fuel consumption was reduced by 15–25%," Emil Grímsson says.
The trouble caused by soft snow could be managed by regulating tire pressures. "With internal tire inflation, we could temporarily take the tire pressure down to 3.5 psi to get going in very soft snow conditions. Then we used the huge torque of the 6.7-liter engine to build up speed," Emil Grímsson describes. "Then we could increase the tire pressure again to 5–6 psi and cruise like a boat at 50 to 80 km/h. This is a feature which the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 44 tire is especially good at delivering."
Enduring the extremes
During their Antarctica crossing, the Transglobal Car Expedition faced some extreme conditions. The low oxygen levels at high elevations caused headaches and feelings of breathlessness. "The route takes you quickly to over 3,500 meters and reaches up to 3,650 meters," Emil says. "The oxygen level in the polar regions is much lower than around the center, so what we experienced was comparatively close to 4,500 meters!"
Another extreme feature is the sastrugi ice ridges – ice formations stretching hundreds of kilometers that put vehicles and tires to the test by shaking them mercilessly. During this expedition, crossing the sastrugi areas caused real concern about how the plastic sledges carrying vital supplies would withstand the constant abrasion, vibration, impacts, and extreme sub-zero temperatures.
Despite the hostile environment, the expedition completed their 4,141 km journey and is currently on the sixth leg of their journey, driving through South America and finally back to their original starting point, New York.
Why expeditions like this matter?
Expeditions like the Transglobal Car Expedition are not just about adventure—they serve a critical role in supporting scientific research and advancing vehicle technology in extreme environments.
Antarctica is one of the most important locations for studying climate change, atmospheric conditions, and ice core samples that provide insights into Earth’s history. However, conducting research in such a remote and unforgiving landscape requires highly specialized vehicles to transport scientists, equipment, and essential supplies. The success of these missions depends on efficient, reliable, and low-impact mobility solutions.
For Nokian Tyres, these expeditions offer a unique opportunity to test our tires in the most extreme conditions on Earth. The Hakkapeliitta 44 tires used on this journey provided significant fuel savings, proving that advanced tire technology can reduce emissions and improve efficiency even in the harshest environments. The insights gained from this journey directly influence the development of more sustainable, durable, and efficient tires for real-world applications, from Arctic research to rescue operations and everyday driving.