Regular readers of these pages will be well aware of the woes facing battery-powered two-wheelers, especially high-powered full-sized machinery. Sales are moribund amid customer disinterest, and that has also hit the major electric bike race series, MotoE. The championship, which ran alongside MotoGP from 2019, has struggled to gain acceptance amongst fans, despite a reasonable roster of riders, and a valiant attempt by first Energica, then Ducati, to provide workable battery-powered racebikes.
Now, MotoGP organisers have announced a “hiatus” in the MotoE series, which will stop at the end of this season for an indeterminate period. Dorna and the FIM say that they will continue to monitor and consult the direction of the industry, and MotoE “will be reconsidered should the relevance of electric motorcycles – or any other alternative sustainable technology – increase in the future.”
Jorge Viegas, FIM president, said: “Today we announce the suspension of the FIM MotoE World Championship as from the end of this season. In fact, and despite all the best efforts to promote this innovative category together with Dorna, the truth is that we haven’t reached our objectives, nor has the industry associated with performance electric bikes. The racing has been really fantastic, and I would like to thank all the riders and teams that have competed in MotoE, and of course, Dorna. Together, we look to the future and are ready to embrace any new innovations and technologies.”
Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of MotoGP rights holder Dorna Sports, said: “MotoE has delivered some incredible on-track action and crowned champions and winners, playing a valuable role in MotoGP’s mission to innovate, fearlessly, and never shy away from staging something new. As we continuously strive for innovation on and off track, we must be equally unafraid to listen to our fanbase, and to observe market development. In doing so, together with the FIM, we have decided that the time is right to put MotoE on hiatus at the end of this season. We would like to thank all the riders and teams, Ducati, our partners and all the personnel who have made MotoE a reality since its inception in 2019. Thank you for joining us on this valuable journey.”
Ducati continues research despite MotoE demise
Bosses in Bologna could be justified in feeling a bit miffed by the FIM and Dorna’s dumping of the ailing MotoE battery-powered race series. Ducati stepped in to replace the (even more ailing) Energica firm as the control bike supplier in 2022, with its own high-tech V21L electric racebike. But now, just three years in, MotoGP organisers have dropped the series, blaming “poor audience engagement”.
Ducati says it will keep working on the V21L, while also continuing work on cutting-edge solid-state battery technology. Of course, as a division of the Volkswagen Audi Group, the firm has access to car technology, where battery power has been far more successful. As has become clear, four-wheel applications work better with electric power, where the space, cost, and weight penalties of high-power, high-capacity batteries are much more manageable. The next generation of solid-state batteries, which don’t use liquid or gel electrolytes and are therefore much lighter and more compact, could be the answer for bikes, and Ducati says it will be in the vanguard of that research.