MotoGP Goes Electric?
Motorcycle racing has always typically been characterized by noisy revs of engines and gasoline-fueled bikes, but with an electric two-wheeler these will not be present.
MotoGP administrators Dorna had announced in February that they will be adding a new all-electric series. The roster of Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP will be welcoming the addition of the Enel MotoE World Cup starting from 2019.
(All images taken from CNN)
As going electric would be a huge departure from what most racing fans are used to, Dorna has reportedly been drawing in fans through demonstration laps by former Grand Prix stars, including the likes of Max Biaggi, Colin Edwards, Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi. MotoE has reportedly taken the Italian Energica Ego as the standard production bike and will be adapting it to race specifications.
Nicholas Goubert, who left the MotoGP tire manufacturer to front the MotoE series, said that Energica has a three-year contract to supply bikes to the series.
“There will be modifications, of course: battery, brakes, suspension, wheels,” Goubert explained. “We’ll make it a race bike, but technology will be very similar; so, it won’t be a million-dollar prototype, it will be something down to earth, and that’s important.”
According to CNN, the hugely popular MotoGP veteran Capirossi has played a significant role in testing the motorbike.
With nine premier class wins to his name, Capirossi is certainly no stranger to a motorcycle, but what about those of the electric kind?
Speaking to CNN, he said: “It’s a strange thing because, when you jump on, you’re looking for the clutch, there’s no clutch; you’re looking for the gearbox, no gearbox; and also, no sound, the engine has no sound, just you push the button and the engine is on.”
The Energica Ego is unable to reach the top speeds MotoGP racers are used to, either. But still, Capirossi remains impressed.
“You start to open the throttle and you see immediately, you feel immediately the torque of the bike, and when you’re on the track you’re thinking only about braking and acceleration, the rest you don’t need.”
However, Capirossi also admitted that it could take some convincing for fans and racers alike to jump on board this technological development in motor racing.
“When you talk with every rider, like Valentino Rossi, he says well, everybody says ‘we don’t like,’ ‘we like the sound,’ ‘we like the noise (of petrol bikes),” the Italian said. “You know because nobody really properly tested that type of bike.
But Goubert remains optimistic. “When you have a change in technology you always have people doubting it,” he said to CNN.
“I am sure with electric bikes that some people will be reluctant at the beginning but gradually, over time and with technology changing, I am convinced that will change.”
Herve Poncharal, Principal of the Tech3 team, also believes there could be commercial benefits to MotoE racing.
“You run a race team, and you run a business. And more and more you meet potential sponsors and they tell you, ‘yeah, but you know, the CO2 emissions, this is the past, and we don’t want to be part of that image’,” he explains.
“Hopefully, it could help us (to attract new sponsors),” Poncharal said regarding MotoE’s green credentials.
It has also been revealed that MotoE will race at the same time as MotoGP, which Poncharal sees as a crucial move.
“In Formula One and Formula E you have two championships fighting each other, but MotoGP will be a hybrid championship, because the same championship, the same promoter, the same race day, will have a petrol engine and an electric engine.”
What are your thoughts? Would you follow the MotoE series when it comes to fruition?