Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati has completed the first test of the 2023 MotoE championship motorcycle. Ducati MotoGP test rider Michele Pirro took the next-gen MotoE bike dubbed ‘V21L’ out for its first set of test runs at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli racetrack in Italy.
Moto GP and Ducati recently signed an agreement that will see the Italian marque become the sole supplier for the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup, the electric class of the Moto GP world championship from 2023. The MotoE class currently runs on motorcycles provided by the Italian firm Energica. Energica’s contract will expire at the end of the 2022 season, with Ducati taking over from 2023 onwards.
The prototype V21L, which is the first electric Ducati motorcycle, is the result of a collaboration between the Ducati Corse race team and the Italian marque’s research and development team led by Roberto Canè, Ducati eMobility Director. The V21L first test run saw the bike run at 70 per cent of its total power output as Pirro, the Ducati Test rider for nearly a decade evaluated the technical characteristics and potential of Ducati’s first electric motorcycle.
Speaking after the first test sessions with the V21L electric racer, Michele Pirro, Ducati test rider said, “Testing the MotoE prototype on the circuit was a great thrill because it marks the beginning of an important chapter in Ducati history. The bike is light and already has a good balance. Furthermore, the throttle connection in the first opening phase and the ergonomics are very similar to those of a MotoGP bike. If it weren’t for the silence and for the fact that in this test, we decided to limit the power output to just 70% of performance, I could easily have imagined that I was riding my bike.”
Speaking after the first test session with the next-gen MotoE bike, Roberto Canè, Ducati eMobility Director, Ducati stated, “We are experiencing a truly extraordinary moment. I find it hard to believe it is reality and still not a dream! The first electric Ducati on the track is exceptional not only for its uniqueness but also for the type of undertaking: challenging both for its performance objectives and for its extremely short timescales. Precisely for this reason, the work of the whole team dedicated to the project has been incredible and today’s result repays us for the efforts made in recent months. We are certainly not finished yet; indeed, we know that the road ahead is still very long, but in the meantime, we have laid a first important ‘brick’.”
The FIM Enel MotoE World Cup was first introduced in 2019 and it acts as a support series to the Moto GP world championship. In 2019, the series was won by Italian rider Matteo Ferrari, who was racing for the Trentino Gresini MotoE team. The past two championships (2020 and 2021) have been won by the Spanish rider Jordi Torres.
Thoughts On The Ducati MotoE Motorcycle
The Ducati MotoE prototype shows the brand’s commitment to electric vehicles as part of the Volkswagen Group. Hopefully, the new MotoE electric bike will also lead to road-legal electric superbikes from the Italian marque in the near future.