Ducati will become the control motorcycle provider for MotoGP’s electric support series MotoE from 2023 onwards, replacing Energica after four years.
It’s a rather remarkable announcement given that Ducati currently does not produce an electric bike.
And while the news is surprising, it is simultaneously not a huge shock given that Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali has opined multiple times in the past that electric vehicles will play a huge part in the firm’s future.
Speaking to the media at Misano ahead of this weekend’s race, he elaborated on that, by stating that not only is Ducati going to fully commit to the project but it believes he best way to do so is to enter the market at its most competitive point to ensure that Ducati’s racing heritage is maintained.
“It will take a while before we’re on the racetrack and we will spend all of 2022 to finish the development of the bike,” Domenicali explained.
“We want to come in 2023 with a project which is already tested, approved and meets all the very important safety rules.
“But just as important, we want to bring the performance that [MotoGP promoter] Dorna requested from us.
“That relies on being as light as possible, but we want to take all the learning and knowledge we have from MotoGP, especially with software, to make this a high performance motorcycle.
“The Ducati community is a wide one, full of very passionate and very knowledgeable people. We have to please our more conservative, the ones who still complain about not having a trellis frame in the Monster and who are very much linked to our heritage.
“But I am sure that when we are able to make a motorcycle that is light enough, I am sure the vast majority of the Ducatisti will love it. When you have an electric vehicle that is light, it is really lovely.”
Despite Ducati not having road bike technology to use in developing the MotoE machine from the way that Energica was able to modify its Ego production bike into a race machine, Domenicali says that the horse will follow the cart in this case, with a production bike coming some time after 2025.
“The most important reason for us to do this is to develop the technology and to be ready to make a production motorcycle,” the Italian explained.
“It will be a full racing bike and developed with the racing team, who will run them in the field, by Gigi [Dall’Igna] and his team.
“The design of the bike will be made by the production team to generate technology and knowledge.
“The racing bike is under definition now, and we will explain more about it next year. But definitely yes, our plan is to make a production version.
“It’s not fixed to any date, because it’s not fixed when the battery will be good enough.
“We need to work on that, to follow the development. It won’t be before 2025, but in my opinion could be earlier than 2030.”
There is a considerable benefit to Ducati from being a part of parent group Audi, with Domenicali keen to rely on electric experience – and especially battery technology – from other brands under the same group such as Porsche and Lamborghini.
“The technology of the battery is improving quickly, and this is why we want to be involved, to become experts as quickly as possible,” he said.
“Some brands [in the group] are closer to us than others. There is a group battery centre of excellence and we are discussing very closely with them, but it is mainly related to mass production cars, mainly VW and Audi. So we are also working very closely with the more sporty brands like Porsche and Lamborghini.
“Porsche are developing their own specific battery technology for small series of very high performance, and have just presented their Mission R with a very sophisticated oil-cooled battery.
“There is a lot of experience and we will take a good advantage from it.”
