Surprise! Ducati E bike

Ducati has been dabbling with the idea of an electric motorcycle for a few years, but according to Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali, an electric Duc is coming soon

https://jalopnik.com/ducati-is-close-to-a-production-electric-bike-1831895317

I’m surprised that I’m 1st

Was in the mountains playing in the snow :)

That’s exciting news indeed! Just about everything Ducati touches becomes sexy. Let the EM wars begin!

Awesome, looking forward to the details

Ducati's CEO has been riding around on a Duck with a Zero Motorcycles swap.

They could just license the swap and sell it now and I'd buy one:

Ducati just turned me into a potential customer again.

They've been completely off my radar since they made every model include desmo valves. Desmo makes some sense for extreme performance, but no sense at all for real world bikes (desmo on a Scrambler is just stupid) - it only makes service more of a pain in cost and time, for no real functional advantage. Only fanboys, or those wiling to pay others big money for routine maintenance, need apply. I'm neither.

But going electric nicely sidesteps that obstacle, and I'm suddenly very interested. Still not willing to have the electric equivalent of a desmo valvetrain tattooed on my head though....

This announcement is harder to fathom in terms of how/where it will lead. On the one hand, Ducati's success relies heavily on the mystique of their engines, complete with a religious following that rivals HD's. (World Ducati Week is Europe's equivalent of Sturgis.) Anyone willing to venture a guess at how the Ducatisti will receive an electric Ducati?

On the other hand, Ducati is owned by the VW group - a global powerhouse with Very Deep Pockets and a huge incentive to promote electric power to hopefully make people forget about DieselGate. Although the VW connection is actually somewhat removed. It goes Ducati-Lamborghini-Audi-VW.

My guess is that VW influence won't play significantly in this venture. So it comes down to an interesting tension between tradition and reform advocates within the Ducati religion. Same conflict as what HD is dealing with, very different religion.

I second that. Zero’s proven battery/motor/bms tech with Ducati’s gorgeous looks and suspension geometry is like peanut butter and chocolate.. burgers & fries.. cake and ice cream.. (you get the picture), however, with Ducati having access to electric tech from its upline (AUDI/VW), it stands to reason it will develop its own pack/motor/bms, but if Ducati were to partner with Zero, I’d see it as a win win.

“The future is electric, we’re not far from starting series production.”
- Ducati CEO Claudio Doninicali

From:

https://www.webbikeworld.com/ducatis-future-is-electric/

Note there is no mention that this is what the Ducati electric bike will look like. But it's the only picture with the article....

With that radiator and the logo on the fairing, I wonder if this means Zero's SR/F had any Ducati influence. That kind of partnership could be great for both, and for riders too.

Ducati/Zero partnership?

Probably to small like the Hypermotard I waited so long to see.

That one looks getting prepared for 500 mph in Eco mode

From: https://electrek.co/2019/01/19/electric-ducati-motorcycle/

"Back in 2017, the Managing Director of Ducati Western Europe Edouard Lotthé revealed that Ducati had plans for both an electric motorcycle and scooter. However, Lotthé stated that the earliest either might appear would be the 2021 model year."

This is all I've found regarding a timeline for a Duc EM. It's a dated statement now, and may be re-evaluated now that Lightning and Zero have heated-up the market a bit. Maybe Ducati wants to join the party, or maybe they want to see who shows up first before making an appearance.

BTW, the article has another shot of the design study I posted above. It's clear that these are not prototypes, only CAD renderings. So we really know nothing of what this EM will look like.

I would like to see an ev bike built like a boxer engine. More batteries down the sides like a bmw or goldwing. They also protect the legs and ankles in a fall over.

I've heard of sacrificial anodes, but never sacrificial battery packs!

M

Ya but, the more battery packs the better.

The best thing you can do with batteries is to arrange them to provide as much mass centralization as possible. Pokie-outie battery boxes work against that goal, in addition to making the batteries vulnerable in a crash.

And just in case anyone was thinking it, don't get me started on low center of gravity being a so-called 'good' thing for motorcycles. It's not. Low cg is only beneficial for vehicles that inherently provide their own stability. That's not a motorcycle. Motorcycles get their stability from constant monitoring and correction by the rider. It's a whole different ball game. Want an example? Try balancing a hammer upright with the handle on the tip of your finger. Now try it with the head on your finger. Good luck.

I think one of the drivers for motorbike factories is also the vastly simpler and cheaper (manpower wise) build of an electric bike vs. gas powered. Take that hypermotard: instead of paying lots of workers to build the hugely sophisticated (yet beautiful) desmo 4 engine and its gearbox all they need to do is buy batteries and motors from china, and You don't need a dedicated factory for it. The final cost of the bike won't be less because batteries are and will probably stay expensive, but far less workers to pay at Ducati. I can see why Domenicali rides one.

Maintenance on e motorcycles should be much easier as well, I’m looking forward to that.

Tires
Brakes
Belt
Maybe a cooling system for track use that could be lifetime and non serviceable.

LEDs last 50K hours so even lights are becoming lifetime for most people.