Ducati won’t be launching electric motorcycles for consumers anytime soon, making the motorcycle maker an outlier in Volkswagen’s 89 billion euro ($94 billion) push to electrify its steady business. The Italian brand will be the only e-bike producer at this year’s FIM Enel MotoE World Cup, and showed off the project’s first electric motorcycle prototype in June. But Jason Chinnock, CEO of Ducati’s North American operations, said the company still has work to do to improve battery range and performance before the e-bikes are ready to hit showrooms.
“It’s going to take a few years. The battery technology really doesn’t exist,” Chinnock told Bloomberg Television on Thursday.
Chinnock’s view contrasts not only with mass acceptance of batteries for electric passenger cars, but also with rival Harley-Davidson Inc.’s enthusiasm for electric bicycles. Harley, which launched its first plug-in model, the LiveWire, in 2019, spun off its electric motorcycle division last year, merging it with a special purpose acquisition company to form LiveWire Group Inc.
Electrification has had a more uneven impact on the motorcycle market than passenger cars. While Honda recently announced plans to launch at least 10 models globally by 2025, BMW has only unveiled concept bikes so far.
Ducati, one of four Volkswagen brands that share development and production resources, is exploring alternative fuels and other technologies to reduce its carbon footprint.
“There’s no direct development of consumer bikes right now because it’s early days. That really requires battery technology to evolve,” Chinnock said.
“Once it got to the point where it made sense for us, we could address performance, range and weight, that was the trifecta,” Chinnock said. “It still needs to be distinctly Ducati.”
First published date: Feb 24, 2023 at 08:53 AM CST
https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/electric-vehicles/ducatis-first-electric-motorcycle-is-years-off-as-batteries-are-not-ready-41677208656356.html