Ducati concludes its first season as the sole supplier of the FIM Enel MotoE World Championship.

Ducati has completed its first season as the sole supplier of the FIM Enel MotoE World Championship with great satisfaction. Less than two years after the first laps on the V21L prototype circuit, the Bologna brand developed, produced, and put on track 18 high-performance motorcycles, resulting in a highly competitive championship that saw Mattia Casadei crowned the first MotoE World Champion in the final round at Misano. The V21L prototype, which emerged from collaboration between Ducati’s R&D department and Ducati Corse, is an electric motorcycle that integrates technical solutions never before adopted for the battery, motor, and converter assembly.

The Ducati MotoE is the MotoGP of electric motorcycles, and since the first tests that took place in March at the Jerez circuit, all the riders of the World Championship have praised its performance and riding dynamics. The V21L prototype has a total weight of 225 kg (with a weight distribution of 54% front and 46% rear) and a wheelbase of 1471 mm. The motor has maximum power and torque values of 110 kW (150 hp) and 140 Nm, respectively (technical data of the bike here ). The battery pack represents a unique example in the world of electric motorcycles in terms of technical solutions and performance. It weighs 110 kg, has a carbon case, and consists of 1152 cylindrical cells of the “21700” battery type, i.e., cells of 70 mm in length and 21 mm in diameter, the best performing cells available on the market when the MotoE project started. Its small dimensions allowed Ducati technicians to develop a battery pack with cells distributed to occupy all the available space inside the motorcycle, a solution never seen before. What makes the V21L battery pack even more unique is the liquid cooling, which can generate a constant temperature in each cell and thus allows the motorcycle to be recharged immediately before each use, ensuring consistent performance from the first to the last lap of the race.

Thanks to the high performance and reliability of the V21L prototype, the MotoE World Championship was characterized by being very well balanced, with a very high level of competitiveness from the participating riders and teams. In the 16 races held, among the 18 registered riders, eight won at least one race, and ten, more than half of the grid, reached the podium at least once, with four riders mathematically in the title fight until the last round. The V21L was able to improve lap times at all circuits during the races, even breaking lap records for the category by up to three seconds. In addition, at almost all circuits, the V21L prototype was also able to beat records for the Moto3 category. In the French Grand Prix, the first of the season, all riders on the grid were faster than the previous record. The Ducati V21L was recently featured at the 2023 edition of the IAA MOBILITY show in Munich, where it was displayed with a special color scheme inspired by the sporting history of the motorcycle manufacturer based in Bologna. The new graphics featured Ducati Red combined with white and number plates, gold details, and exposed carbon fiber black, and were created by the Ducati Style Center in collaboration with Aldo Drudi specifically for the occasion.

The next development tests of the Ducati MotoE will start soon, with the aim of further improving the performance of this fascinating and ambitious project, with a view to the next season of the World Championship. In fact, the commitment to experimenting with innovative technologies continues, in order to acquire more experience and capabilities for a future Ducati electric sports bike that is light and exciting, thus satisfying all enthusiasts of the Borgo Panigale brand.

Here are the numbers for the MotoE World Championship 2023:

– 35 people from Ducati involved in the “V21L” project

– 33 years old, is the average age of the Ducati staff involved in the project

– 23 Ducati “V21L” produced (18 delivered to the teams, 5 spares, always ready to use in the Ducati box)

– 471, the total number of laps completed on the track

– 38,500 kilometers covered in total

– 1080, the number of recharges made

– 26,496 battery cells used in total

– 1.4 MWh, the amount of energy regenerated during braking

– 282 km/h, the maximum speed reached (Italian GP, Mugello, June 10, 2023)

– 2.5s, the average of the 0-100 km/h acceleration values recorded by V21L

– 2.2s, the average improvement in lap times compared to the previous season

– 9.27s, the average interval in the top-10, 2.77s was the minimum (German GP, race 1)

– 3.04s, the average interval in the top-5, 0.49s was the minimum (Catalunya GP, race 2)

– 0.43s, the average difference between the winner and second place (including 3 rainy races), 0.021s was the minimum (San Marino GP, race 1)

– 10 drivers reached the podium (out of 18 participants)

– 8 different winners (out of 18 participants), demonstrating the balance of the championship

– 7 teams (out of 9) reached the podium

– 5 teams (out of 9) won at least one race, further proof of the level of the participants

– 10 positions recovered was the best recovery made by a driver in a race (Austrian GP, race 1) – certainly there was no lack of spectacle.