Ducati replacement of Energica for the MotoE World Cup from 2023 onwards starts "Electric Era"
Having only recently agreed a one-year extension to its existing contract (for the 2022 season), Modena, Italy based electric sports bike manufacturer Energica has been replaced by Ducati as provider of the race series platform from 2023 and onwards.
"Ducati has always been a future-facing business and every time we enter a new market, we do so to create the best performing product possible," said Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali.
"We are working to make high-performance, lightweight electric motorcycles available to all FIM Enel MotoE World Cup participants and are very proud to announce Ducati as the new single manufacturer for the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup from the 2023 season onwards."
For rights holder Dorna Sports, CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said: "With their incredible racing history, it is an honour to welcome this commitment from one of the best-known manufacturers in the paddock and to take on this new challenge together."
Describing it as the "beginning" of its "electric era", the signals about electrification from Ducati have been mixed until now.
Walking back prior (2019) remarks by Domenicali, Ducati's VP of Global Sales and Board Member Francesca Milicia had appeared to suggest that its membership of the Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) might give Ducati an opportunity to prioritise exploring synthetic gasoline rather than electric power as its initial pathway to reduced emissions, when interviewed on the subject earlier this year.
He had stated: "Will we produce an electric Ducati soon? No. We are also looking carefully at other solutions for zero or minimal emissions, such as synthetic fuel."
However, it would appear that Ducati parent company AUDI, who (along with Bosch) is known to have been investing heavily in prototype synthetic pump gas scale production research since 2017, has now largely abandoned that research and is instead to follow, and is encouraging its motorcycle subsidiary to follow orthodoxy and embrace an electric future.
It is unknown if the influence over Energica by New York based, NASDAQ listed 'FinTech' Ideanomics (most recently as majority shareholder) was behind the decision to only seek a one-year contract extension four months ago, or if this has been a coordinated move with Dorna to give Ducati the chance to accelerate R&D to have a platform ready for the 2023 season.
Either way, it is likely that powerful backing for the move from VAG and Ducati's considerable influence over Dorna had a part to play in the decision. The agreement lasts until 2026 and will therefore, initially, give Ducati four seasons to leverage what is going to have to be a substantial investment if they are to be ready to race in just 18 months' time.
Ducati's news release went on to say that its goal is to "develop expertise and technologies in a constantly evolving world such as the electric one, through an experience familiar to the company like that of racing competition. This has been a consolidated tradition for the company starting from the Ducati 851, which inaugurated the trend of Ducati road sports bikes.
Claudio Domenicali (left), CEO Ducati, and Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO Dorna Sports
"Since then, this endless transfer of expertise has always taken place from the Superbike World Championships, in which Ducati has participated since the first edition in 1988, and from MotoGP, in which Ducati is the only non-Japanese motorcycle manufacturer to have won a World Championship.
"The fact that Ducati is part of the Volkswagen Group, which has made electric mobility an essential element of its 2030 'New Auto' strategy, represents the best prerequisite for an extraordinary exchange of expertise in the field of electric powertrains.
"This first step for Ducati in the world of electric bikes will also have an influence on the evolution of the product range. Now, the most important challenges in this field remain those of the size, weight, autonomy of the batteries and the availability of charging networks. Ducati's experience in the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup will be a fundamental support for product R&D, together with the physiological evolution of technology and chemistry. The goal is to study how to produce, as soon as the technology allows, a Ducati electric vehicle that is sporty, light, thrilling and able to satisfy all enthusiasts".
