For two years now, as part of the MotoGP, we’ve seen the MotoE with electric prototype motorcycles. In the Superbike World Championship it will be even longer before the new drive technology is introduced.
World Cup promoter Dorna installed the “MotoE World Cup” in 2019. At four events, a total of six races with electric motorcycles were held as part of the European MotoGP racing weekends. Despite the 2020 season influenced by the novel coronavirus, the calendar grew to five meetings with seven races.
As the exclusive manufacturer, Energica equipped all drivers; in the debut season we saw well-known names such as Sete Gibernau, Alex De Angelis, Bradley Smith or Randy de Puniet. In 2020, Lukas Tulovic and Dominique Aegerter were also two German speakers.
The MotoE races brought us exciting, although the missing sound is irreplaceable for many fans. The fact that motorcycles burned down several times in 2019 and that they are technically not fully developed disqualifies the series for many.
By the way: The world motorcycle association FIM already organized an e-bike series in 2013, but this turned out to be a flop because there weren’t enough teams and bikes and too few organizers.
At the Austin GP, the Californian company “Lightning Motorcycles” showed up in a van at the invitation of Dorna at the end of April 2017 and had the seven-time MotoGP winner and current official Loris Capirossi undertake a test on the LS-218. At the American Superbike World Championship event in Laguna Seca in July 2018, SBK Sporting Director Gregorio Lavilla, as a racing driver in the Superbike World Championship 14 times on the podium, completed numerous laps.
While practically every well-known automobile manufacturer has an e-model in their range, powerful motorcycles with an electric drive are still rare. With the EGO + / RS, Energica offers the most ambitious model (see picture). The big manufacturers only have e-scooters or small enduros.
If the craze for politicians grows with e-mobility, the near-series Superbike World Championship will have to deal with this topic in the long term.
“You can also race with a scooter”, smiled Gregorio Lavilla in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “I don’t know how much development went into the machine that I was driving at the time. I also don’t know whether there is one of today’s established motorcycle manufacturers who is working on such a project. If this bike is improved it will be perfect for racing. However, the performance will not be the same as that of today’s motorcycles. That depends on the capacity of the battery – it limits the power and range. If one day the industry tells us that this is the direction we need to take, then we will consider that. But I don’t see that in the near future. “
In the Superbike and MotoGP World Championships, combustion engines will continue in the years to come. Formula E is becoming more and more popular with automobile manufacturers; Renault, Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes, Mahindra, Citroen, Nissan, BMW and Porsche are currently represented at the factory. Because of the high weight, it is still doubtful whether battery-powered drives will also catch on in motorcycles.
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