So I read earlier today that Energica are ending their relationship with Dorna and won't be supplying electric bikes for the MotoE series from the end of 2022. But now it looks like Ducati are about to pick up the series with their own electric bike?!?!?! https://www.autosport.com/motoe/news/ducati-set-to-become-official-motoe-supplier-from-2023/6696091/ Thoughts?
There is a televised press presentation today at 3pm being advertised on FB. Not sure if that’s CET or BST. Andy
Would anyone buy an electric Ducati? Great PR move tho and will force the development for Audi into Ducati
Ducati are already dabbling I guess and they know what's coming, VAG have a great start in EV tech I guess and how that can transfer to 2 wheels has yet to be thoroughly explored. It'll be a great learning curve for them as a manufacturer, they'll have 20-30 test bikes rattling around a race track gathering countless amounts of data, which will ultimately shape the future for 2 wheels.
Having ridden an e-trials bike (E- Pure I think it was) I can see electric bikes definitely being the future. Easy to use, and very torquey and quick.
It will always be about range and time to recharge. A bike isnt really at issue too much at 100 miles under ‘normal’ conditions but taking an hour to charge is. Fast charge in 15 min and enough for 200 road miles or 70 track miles would be the sweet spot imho to make people look away from petrol to electric for touring and general use. Especially is a big bike brand and it looks like a bike!
I think people will buy them, tbh I think I'd buy an Energica based on look and spec, but it's £28k or something so still as much money as a V4S, within 5 years though there will be a Ducati option that's as good and probably nearer £23k, and I do think it will sell. However though I do feel they will need to restrict their model offering and features to push people towards that, sort of like "Oh you want electronic suspension and integrated connectivity - You'll need this electric model where it's standard" type approach. It's the approach the car world have been trying for a long time. The Golf GTE and the like "Oh you want a Golf GTI as a company car, how about this tax free version that's kinda as fast but looks really cool still"
There was a long thread over on Pistonheads about the same thing, for a commute/city they currently make perfect sense, but my example of a 200 mile day around the peak district with barely any petrol stations let alone EV charging is just a non starter to convert me to EV bikes, it's going to take a leap in tech to extend range, faster charging and just as important weight, then an infrastructure to back this all up. It's a long way away, luckily I probably won't be riding superbikes etc by the time 2035 comes along anyways.
And I think the future of e sports bikes is probably more to do with ready to roll bike weight than range
Commuting and urban use is where electric is the perfect solution. My belief is still that for longer range travel the move will be towards trains rather than private vehicles . We do have to change our way of life whether we like it or not.
What a horrible thought. What’s the point of life?! No touring. Cars or bikes. No days out or weekends just fir the fun of it. If that’s the future I want no part in it.
Have you watched Long Way Up or the recent reviews of the HD Livewire for example? Max range 100 miles, but reduced to around 50 depending on how much you twist the throttle and also how cold it is, with no decent charging infrastructure across the UK, and what there is barely works, unless you can achieve a real world 300 mile range without a 300 mile battery weight, or have access to fast chargers in rural areas how will the bike industry survive in the UK? Battery tech is getting better but that tech costs £££ so inevitably bike prices will rise accordingly. Currently other than inner city use I don't see anything positive for EV bikes, let's see in 5-10 years if we suddenly have the tech to achieve it, and what the costs will be to consume that tech.
Costs at a time when we are meant to be reducing environmental impact. But that’s ok, large Corps will use carbon offset schemes
Regardless of the impact on the environment, oil isn’t an unlimited resource so even if we carry on as we are, we eventually need to replace it with something else.
I agree with what you're saying but... Peak Oil... are we there yet? Many untapped remote resources around the world, also higher yield means of extraction, mean previously unprofitable fields are now being drilled. Granted fossil fuels are not good for the environment, alternatives need to be found. Not sure if battery powered vehicles are the absolute answer though as they have their own environmental issues, they're hopefully a stop-gap on the way to something better.
Same could be said for Li I guess, and from the small amount of stuff I have read regarding Li mining it's not great for the environment either. You have companies like Porsche and JCB looking at alternatives to EV tech, Mr C posted a great video from an interview with JCB and their Hydrogen engine and the rationale behind it, in summary modern JCB heavy plant stuff has realtime monitoring and a lot of companies/countries run this equipment for up to 20 hours per day, you just cannot charge something that fast to provide that run time. And likewise for something like a 20T digger you need an additional 9T of batteries to operate it.
