Today is a big day for Ducati Motor Holding, as it is making its public debut of its upcoming MotoE race bike.
The first Ducati-branded electric motorcycle, the “V21L” is not only a culmination of Ducati’s motorcycle knowledge, but also a testing platform for the Italian brand to understand the future of two-wheel racing.
The big highlights of the Ducati MotoE project are its 150hp (110 kW) of peak power figure, which is mated to a 103 lbs•ft of peak torque (140 Nm). All of this propels the Ducati MotoE bike to over 170mph at the Mugello circuit.
Ducati is using an 18 kWh battery pack, which operates at 800 volts when fully charged (80% of that charge can be achieved in 45 minutes with the onboard 20 kW charger).
The battery pack weighs, 243 lbs, which accounts for almost half of the V21L’s total 495 lbs mass.
Other items of note are Ducati’s dual-cooling zones, one for the motor and inverter, and the other for the battery pack itself. The bike drips in carbon fiber, but the “forward frame” chassis and double-sided swingarm are both made from cast aluminum.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the whole project though is how Ducati views its MotoE involvement, as the company is using the racing platform as a test bed for future technologies, especially as battery technologies get more energy-dense for racing use.
This is clearly an investment in Ducati’s future, and if the previous seasons are any indication, the racing should be exciting as well.
Be sure to check out Ducati’s tech video above, as it’s full of interesting insights and visuals.
Source: Ducati
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