Category: Manufacturers

Press Release: MotoE World Cup: Ducati Tests Electric Prototype At Misano

From Ducati’s press release

So I just saw this pop up on Linkedin. Now remember the big claim for Ducati taking over bike building of the one make series was lighter race bikes in the name of safety. Ducati also feels their traction control system will be a big step forward in safety and familiarity with riders. I feel they can absolutely claim that while at the same time casting absolutely no dispursions at Energica’s effort. They simply have been able to put in that much more work for that many more years. Simple as that. The lightweight part I’m a bit suspect on. But they are claiming it is already lightweight. Just what they consider lightweight I would like to know, but for now I will give them the benifit of the doubt.

Michael Uhlarik had his unique designer take on what he saw, and posted it on Linkedin, “

Ducati Motor Holding released images of the prototype electric race bike they plan to supply the FIM for the all-electric MotoE series.

Notable is the wide, tall fairing devoid of the edges and winglets that normally adorn gas-powered street bikes. Like its MotoGP sibling, the fairing design is clean and focuses on hiding the rider as much as possible.

With electric motorcycles, drag reduction is paramount, and rational aerodynamic efficiency has to supersede styling trends. Aerodynamic devices that to add downforce, such as winglets, also add drag.

While this prototype is almost certainly wearing off-the-shelf Ducati MotoGP fairings for development purposes, it highlights physical reality. Motorcycles will have to evolve towards cleaner, less fussy designs as they transit to electric power trains.

We live in interesting times.”

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michaeluhlarik_electricmotorcycles-ev-ducati-activity-6878749695607365632-814G

Here’s the press release I found on Ducati’s website. Enjoy:

“Ducati MotoE bike takes to the track for the first time on the Misano circuit

The Ducati MotoE bike took to the track for the first time at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, right where the agreement with Dorna Sports was announced in October. In fact, starting from the 2023 season, the Borgo Panigale motorcycle manufacturer will be the sole supplier of motorcycles for the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup, the electric class of the MotoGP™ World Championship.

The electric motorcycle prototype, code-named “V21L”, is the result of the joint work of the Ducati Corse team and the Ducati R&D engineers, led by Roberto Canè, Ducati eMobility Director, and was taken out on track by Michele Pirro, professional rider and Ducati test rider since 2013, who evaluated the technical characteristics and potential of Ducati’s first electric motorcycle. 

Roberto Canè, Ducati eMobility Director: “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’.”

Michele Pirro, Ducati test rider: “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.”

The most important challenges in the development of an electric racing motorcycle remain related to the size, weight and range of the batteries. Ducati’s goal is to make electric motorcycles that are high-performance and characterized by their lightness available to all FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup participants. The focus of the project are, in addition to better performance, the containment of weight and the consistency of power delivery during the race, obtained thanks to the attention in the development of a cooling system suitable for the objective.

Ducati’s experience in the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup will be a fundamental support for product R&D. The goal is to create, as soon as the technology allows it, a Ducati electric vehicle for road use that is sporty, light, exciting and able to satisfy all enthusiasts.”

https://www.ducati.com/us/en/news/ducati-motoe-bike-takes-to-the-track-for-the-first-time-on-the-misano-circuit

ESBK Studios Weekly News 01DEC21

Hello again. So this took a while, folks. No excuses. But if I told you that I am using a MUCH more powerful video editing software, and upped the production quality, would up forgive me a bit?

And, as one person in the forums asked, here’s the links (and my notes) to the articles I talked about this week!

Continue reading “ESBK Studios Weekly News 01DEC21” →

Ahead of the Big Energica Event, Here’s a Map of Their Current Dealer Network

A screenshot off of Energica’s website. https://www.energicamotor.com/find-dealer/

I just saw this on Linkedin and thought it was interesting. They just added a dealer in Andorra. I thought it was really cool to see the progress they have made in just the last few years. About two of these are Energica only dealers. How many Zero-only dealers are there?

So, even though I got the e-mail about their 2022 lineup, I did miss that there is going to be an in-person Event called the “Energica Force Hub”. Of course, I immediately thought there was going to be an announcement about a new hub motor. But then I took a deep breath and looked around, and I am pretty sure it’s just the name of the event, and something got lost in the translation. The event runs from the 24th to the 25th of November. Prime Turkey time for us US members. Are they trying to leave the US folks out? Are they sneaking something in under the radar of US followers? Did they think they were going to pull a fast one on ol’ @TTXGPFan here? No, I really don’t think so. Accept the last one, definitely. But little did they know that I am now a music teacher and would be on vacation all week! Brrrahahahahahaha! *cough cough [stupid allergies]* Well, on second thought no to that too. 😀

This event will have been going on for about a day by the time you read this. I am booked up Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for obvious reasons. I will try to keep an eye out for anything cool and will either post or talk about it on Monday’s news show.

By the way, the schedule I try to adhere to is to record on Monday afternoon, edit Tuesday afternoon, finish editing Wednesday, and post that evening. So go to your favorite podcatcher (i.e. Spotify) and or YouTube look for ESBK Studios and subscribe, or follow, or whatever that service decides to call it. Also, if it is not showing up on your favorite service, please let me know.

And as always, KTRSD.

Episode 33: Zero Owner’s Roundtable from December of 2013

Yeah, it’s got a Cycle World watermark, but I am very confident it is a stock photo from Zero’s press release . . . from 2013.

Go back into my podcasting archives you will see that the last five or six episodes were recorded at the end of 2013 but not published until almost a year later in late 2014. It was a result of a very big push I made in December of 2013 to record a bunch of shows. Why all together? Well, I was having a hard time getting people to talk to, and also having them actually show up when scheduled. And that was a week-long period where I could get people to talk to me. So I did. But many, if not all of them did not get published every 2 weeks as I had planned. 2 or three were 8 months in the waiting as life had taken me down a, particularly twisty road. But this one. This one never made it at all. This one was recorded on the 8th of December 2013. And is seeing the light of day almost exactly 8 years after it was recorded.

I am going to put the podcast here for those of you anxious to listen to it. But I am going to continue waxing poetic about this period of time below. Please enjoy! 

Episode 33: Zero Owner’s Roundtable from December of 2013

Continue reading “Episode 33: Zero Owner’s Roundtable from December of 2013” →

ESBK Studios Weekly News 19NOV21

So it has been almost 3 weeks since my last episode, and all I can do is apologize. Man, there was a lot of news. This episode is almost an hour. I cover my take on Zero’s 2022 lineup, as well as critiques on other news outlets’ inaccurate and poor coverage. Or in the case of one podcast, I just couldn’t make sense of a few comments but thought they had a few very good points. Also, look forward to regular segments like Richard230’s corner where I tell you what things he has posted on the forums, and “Wha whaa” news stories. If you enjoy it, please subscribe. I have some projects in mind for the summer, but a TON of work to do to get there. Getting to the 1000 subscriber mark will help keep my motivation up. Thank you and KTRSD.

2022 Zero Keynote Updated

Sooo, Zero has restricted who can embed this video, and I don’t have the time or want. Just click the link to watch the Keynote. The next video is ways down their playlist so it might be faster to just play it here.

Update: Usually there is a copy of the live event, and I thought this was it. I was wrong. However, I do like posting these things so they are easy to find and you can take from it what you want. Not anyone else’s synopsis of what they said. Although so far Engadget is the only one to the web with a video that I have found. [Electrek has one now too. ]

KTRSD.