MotoE 2023: performance on track of the Ducati V21L

Numbers, data and performance of the Ducati V21L at the 2023 MotoE World Championship circuits.

What are the real track performances of the V21L, the electric motorcycle designed by Ducati for the MotoE World Championship?
On October 21, 2021, Ducati announced that it would become the sole supplier of the MotoE World Championship, the electric class of the MotoGP, starting from 2023. After several internal tests carried out by the official Ducati Corse test team, the MotoE of Borgo Panigale was ridden on the track by the MotoE riders at the Jerez and Barcelona tests before the official start of the 2023 season.
During the official presentation, Ducati declared the data and performance of its first electric motorcycle: 150 HP of power, 140 Nm of torque, 275 km/h top speed and so on. But what is the actual performance of the V21L on track? How did the 18 riders of the MotoE ride it? Thanks to the collaboration of Ducati, Dorna and some teams, we can present a series of data obtained from the telemetry of the bikes involved in the MotoGP electric world championship races.

Ducati MotoE acceleration and top speed on track

Let's start with two basic data: maximum speed and acceleration. The MotoE 2023 weighs 225 kg plus the weight of the rider. We are talking about several tens of kg more than a MotoGP bike; despite this, the V21L accelerates like a MotoGP bike, taking 2.5 seconds to go from 0 to 100 km/h. Thanks to the electric motor's high torque, the MotoE's acceleration remains very high, up to 50% of maximum motor speed; at this point, the torque gradually decreases. Despite this, the MotoE reaches 200 km/h in less than seven seconds.

Each track has specific engine maps and transmission ratios, which is why the Ducati MotoE reaches different maximum speeds on different circuits. The highest value reached during one of the official rounds of the 2023 season was 281.9 km/h at the end of the long Mugello straight. On the other tracks, the top speed was lower, around 250 km/h on average.

Circuit	Top speed
Le Mans	249.3 km/h
Mugello	281.9 km/h
Sachsenring	248.6 km/h
Assen	250.4 km/h

How the Ducati MotoE does it reach these speeds? If we take Mugello as a reference, as the rider rises the bike up from the 55.6° lean angle during turn 15 (Bucine), the V21L accelerates from 100 km/h to 281.9 km/h in 20 seconds, 17 of which with the throttle fully open. In the first three seconds of acceleration, the bike is still leaning while it is still going out of the corner, so the throttle is partially open.
The graph below shows the speed and throttle opening on the main straight at Mugello, between turn 15 (Bucine) and turn 1 (San Donato).

Ducati MotoE braking on track

How is the braking of the Ducati V21L? Also, in this case, there are similarities with MotoGP braking, net of the differences between the two braking systems (carbon discs for the MotoGP, steel discs for the MotoE). In the most demanding braking points, such as those of turn 1 in Barcelona or Mugello, the braking times are similar between MotoGP and MotoE (about five seconds); in the first case, the deceleration is greater, while in the second case, the mass is greater.

Looking at the speed and at the braking circuit oil pressure graphs, the latter reaches around 12 bar in the first part of the braking. As the bike decelerates and the lean angle increases, the force acting on the brakes decreases until it vanishes before the apex. The maximum pressure value of the braking circuit of 14 bar was recorded at Sachsering, in the first part of the braking of turn 12, at the end of the downhill straight at the Waterfall.

The lap times of the MotoE 2023

In the first two rounds of 2023, at Le Mans and Mugello, the V21L beat the previous lap record by more than three seconds. A new track record was also set at the Sachsenring. Furthermore, in both races of the French GP, all the participants were faster than the previous lap record of the MotoE. Also in the Dutch GP at Assen, the new one MotoE was faster than the previous track record, this time by 2.5 seconds.
Already at the beginning of the season, in the first test of 2023, in March, Granado had been half a second faster than the official record of the MotoE in Jerez. A month later, in the second test, Granado was again the fastest, lowering the official MotoE lap record in Barcelona by three seconds.

Photos: motogp.com

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