Photo: Ducati
Over the past few years, racing series dedicated to both electric cars and electric motorcycles have grown in importance. First used by the big players of both industries as a means to develop the needed technologies for their electric road-going machines, championships like Formula E and MotoE are slowly becoming important for the racing world as a whole as well.
Now officially called the FIM Enel MotoE World Championship, the racing series dedicated to electric motorcycles was born as MotoE World Cup back in 2019. Not unlike its Formula E counterpart, it used single-make two-wheelers for all riders, called Ego Corsa and supplied by a company known as Energica.
About a year ago, Italian bike maker Ducati announced it would be replacing Energica as supplier of motorcycles for MotoE. This will happen starting with this year’s season, and we were informed this week all the bikes for the series should be ready for action by the middle of next month.
Ducati started making the MotoE bikes, called V21L, in December 2022. In all, it will produce 23 units, 18 of which will be used by the riders taking part in the competition, and five will be spare units.
We’ll get to see the Ducatis in action for the first time in the week of March 6, during pre-season testing at Jerez and later, at the beginning of April, in Barcelona. The official 2023 FIM Enel MotoE World Championship kicks off on the 12th of May at Le Mans, and will run on seven other weekends until it concludes in September at Misano World Circuit. In all, we’ll have eight Grand Prix events with two races per weekend.
As for the bikes themselves, we’re talking about machines whose batteries alone weigh 242 lbs (110 kg), significantly heavier than an entire standard Moto3 motorcycle, and bringing the total weight of the two-wheeler to 225 kg (496 pounds).
The battery, packed in a carbon fiber case located in the bike’s chassis, has a capacity of 18 kWh. Thanks to a cooling system devised for the ride, bikes can be charged without the need for the battery to cool down, and according to Ducati, it takes roughly 45 minutes to bring the battery back to 80 percent capacity.
The thing’s electric motor is capable of pushing it forward with the power of 110 kW (150 hp) and 140 Nm of torque. During testing performed last year on the Mugello circuit, the Ducati V21L prototype was capable of reaching speeds of 275 kph (171 mph).
As for the rest of the hardware that makes such a bike, we’re talking about an aluminum monocoque front frame, Ohlins front and rear suspension, Brembo braking hardware, and Ducati Corse electronics.
About a year ago, Italian bike maker Ducati announced it would be replacing Energica as supplier of motorcycles for MotoE. This will happen starting with this year’s season, and we were informed this week all the bikes for the series should be ready for action by the middle of next month.
Ducati started making the MotoE bikes, called V21L, in December 2022. In all, it will produce 23 units, 18 of which will be used by the riders taking part in the competition, and five will be spare units.
We’ll get to see the Ducatis in action for the first time in the week of March 6, during pre-season testing at Jerez and later, at the beginning of April, in Barcelona. The official 2023 FIM Enel MotoE World Championship kicks off on the 12th of May at Le Mans, and will run on seven other weekends until it concludes in September at Misano World Circuit. In all, we’ll have eight Grand Prix events with two races per weekend.
As for the bikes themselves, we’re talking about machines whose batteries alone weigh 242 lbs (110 kg), significantly heavier than an entire standard Moto3 motorcycle, and bringing the total weight of the two-wheeler to 225 kg (496 pounds).
The battery, packed in a carbon fiber case located in the bike’s chassis, has a capacity of 18 kWh. Thanks to a cooling system devised for the ride, bikes can be charged without the need for the battery to cool down, and according to Ducati, it takes roughly 45 minutes to bring the battery back to 80 percent capacity.
The thing’s electric motor is capable of pushing it forward with the power of 110 kW (150 hp) and 140 Nm of torque. During testing performed last year on the Mugello circuit, the Ducati V21L prototype was capable of reaching speeds of 275 kph (171 mph).
As for the rest of the hardware that makes such a bike, we’re talking about an aluminum monocoque front frame, Ohlins front and rear suspension, Brembo braking hardware, and Ducati Corse electronics.
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