Guide to MotoE World Cup

The FEL ENEL MotoE World Cup is the new electric class of MotoGP. In addition to the well-known Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP, a fourth category will make its debut in the world championship this year: the MotoE. The championship for the first 3 years is a single-make with motorcycles that are the same for everyone: the Ego Corsa, an electric motorbike produced by the Italian Energica Motor Company (here is some information on Energica - link).
The Ego Corsa is an electric racing motorcycle derived from the road, the commercial model is called Ego. Energica was selected by Dorna Sport, the promoter of the MotoGP championship, to provide the bikes for the teams competing in the championship for 3 years MotoE.

The bike has a power of over 160HP which allows it to reach 270km / h and a pair of over 200Nm. On this page you can find the technical specifications of the bike (link).
The Ego Corsa are supplied to 12 team among those who already participate in the world championship: 6 are MotoGP teams and have 2 riders each, the other 6 teams have a driver each. This is the deployment of the MotoE.

In addition to Energica, many other Italian companies play a key role in the new championship, including EnelX, with the role of official Smart Charging Partner to provide the systems and energy needed to recharge the motorbike batteries (link), and the Brianza Dell'Orto, in charge of data acquisition of the motorcycles. (here the details of the data acquisition system of the motoE)

The first race of the MotoE World Cup was scheduled for May, on the Spanish Jerez track, but the fire that destroyed the paddock and all the bikes during the March tests caused a shift in the calendar to allow for the rebuilding of the bikes and equipment that have gone lost. The races of the 2019 world championship therefore start on 7 July on the German track of Sachsenring and finish on 17 November in Valencia. The championship includes 6 races, all on European circuits: Sachsenring, Red Bull Ring, Misano and Valencia (details here - link). On these last two circuits there will be two races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

The dates are the same dates in which the competitions of the other championship classes take place (MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3). On Friday two free practice sessions are scheduled (FP1 and FP2), on Saturday the superpole style qualifications, while on Sunday the race is between the MotoGP warm-up and the Moto3 race. In stages with a double race, one is Saturday and one Sunday. The qualification, called Epole, is in superpole style, with one rider at a time on the track for a dry lap. The choice of circuits and the duration of the races for this first edition, 9-10, was about so that all the riders had the same level of power from the start to the end of the race, so nobody had to think about saving energy battery and can be free to adopt their own driving style. The Sachsenring race is by 8 giri.

In terms of set-up, the teams can adapt the suspension by acting, for example, on the springs and on the preload. In addition there are two maps for engine power and three for engine brake response. By introducing new technology, it was decided not to allow too many changes to guarantee equal opportunities for everyone from the start. As for the tires, in MotoE pilots have two types of Michelin tires for each race: a specific type for dry and one for wet. As for the slick tire, the front is derived from the experience in MotoGP, because the tire has to withstand a lot of stress and load. The rear is derived from the tire that Michelin has developed for the Superbike championships and guarantees rapid heating and excellent grip for sprint races of this duration. Details on the tires can be found in the dedicated section (link).

La MotoE World Cup was presented in February 2018 in Rome, by Carmelo Ezpeleta, general manager of Dorna Sport, and by Nicolas Goubert, executive director of the championship (here we have collected some of his interviews released in recent months). Since then Energica has developed the bike for the whole 2018 continuously improving its performance. The first official test in which the pilots were able to try the MotoE was last November on the Jerez track (here the account of what happened). The next test was in March and should have taken place over three days but in the night between the first and the second, the Paddock with all the bikes inside caught fire. The cause was identified in a prototype charging station that triggered the fire of the entire structure. For a more detailed story, we refer you to the section that reconstructs what happened (link).

The time needed to rebuild all the bikes forced Dorna to cancel the first two races scheduled for the championship, Jerez and Le Mans, and to change the calendar by adding the double Valencia race in November. Energica has completed the reconstruction of the MotoE in two months, in time to carry out a 3-day test session on the Spanish track in Valencia before the start of the championship. A qualifying simulation and a race also took place during the Valencia tests. For the record, the pole was won by the Spaniard Hector Garzo of the Tech3 team while the race was won by Eric Granado, the Brazilian driver of the Avintia team. For the detailed story, please refer to the dedicated section (link).

Finally we recommend that you visit two sections of the site: the gallery of MotoE (link) and the technical section in which the principles of electric bike are explained (link).