Electric motorcycle series MotoE shelved – for now

The MotoE electric motorcycle racing series will be suspended until further notice, organisers Dorna Sports and the motorcycle world federation FIM have announced. Unlike Formula E for electric racing cars, the series has failed to attract a sufficient following during its seven seasons.

Since the “performance motorcycle market has not developed as expected,” and the series thus did not gain enough fans, the FIM MotoE World Championship will be paused after the 2025 season, a joint statement from FIM and Dorna Sports said.

Jorge Viegas, president of the FIM, commented: “In fact, and despite all the best efforts to promote this innovative category together with Dorna, the truth is that we haven’t reached our objectives, nor has the industry associated with performance electric bikes. The racing has been really fantastic and I would like to thank all the riders and teams that have competed in MotoE, and of course Dorna. Together we look to the future and are ready to embrace any new innovations and technologies.”

Speaking for Dorna Sports, which holds the rights to both the classic internal-combustion MotoGP series and the electric MotoE series, CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said: “MotoE has delivered some incredible on-track action and crowned champions and winners, playing a valuable role in MotoGP’s mission to innovate, fearlessly, and never shy away from staging something new. As we continuously strive for innovation on and off track, we must be equally unafraid of listening to our fanbase and the new audiences we seek to connect with, and observe market development. In doing so, together with the FIM, we have decided that the time is right to put MotoE on hiatus at the end of this season.”

Since its debut, MotoE has followed an unusual approach: all electric motorcycles came from a single manufacturer. Between 2019 and 2022, they were provided by Italian manufacturer Energica, which filed for bankruptcy last year. Its motorcycles were criticised for their heavy weight and limited range. Since 2023, Audi subsidiary Ducati has supplied the motorcycles for the series and was initially scheduled to continue until at least 2026. MotoE has so far been held as one of four classes within the MotoGP series.

motogp.com

This article was first published by Florian Treiß for electrive’s German edition.