Carmelo Ezpeleta, the boss of Dorna, has announced his desire to add electric motorcycle races to his prestigious MotoGP World Championship.
It was during his traditional annual visit to the Spanish media AS that Carmelo Ezpeleta has taken up the idea of an electric racing motorcycle championship.
A first attempt supported by the FIM had fizzled out and, today, there is little more than the Isle of Man TT to allow electric motorcycles to compete, while conversely, the very media Formula E is already well established, without even talking about the future RoboRace which takes mechanical sport towards science fiction…
Carmelo Ezpeleta, he has his feet firmly on the ground and is not content with window dressing but, conversely, intends to present truly ecological competitions: “We are going to make some electric motorcycles soon. It will be single-brand and truly ecological. It will not be a world championship but the races will take place during the Grands Prix. We could do it now, but we want to recharge the batteries with clean energy, not with a compressor that pollutes three times as much.
In 2019, there could be five electric races as support. We want to conclude an agreement with an electricity company that will bring photovoltaic plants to each circuit, and that this supplies photovoltaic energy and is ecological. We are working on this. »
Carmelo Ezpeleta even drew the details of the future grid: “We have an interesting idea, which is to give management of the motorcycles to the MotoGP satellite teams, so that, thanks to electric motorcycles, they have an additional argument to interest sponsors. We have 14 independent bikes and we want there to be 18 riders racing, with what would be the 14 MotoGP plus the Top 4 from Moto2, if they want it. »
Currently, two manufacturers are said to be interested in supplying the bikes, while 2019 could see the first event in Jerez.
