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Ducati announced it would partner with MotoGP to provide the bikes for MotoE. That doesn’t mean Ducati is going to also start selling electric sportbikes next year as well. However, it’s the public start of that process; expect electric motorcycles from Bologna soon enough, based on lessons learned in this series. Here’s what Ducati’s press release says:

“The goal is to develop expertise and technologies in a constantly evolving world such as the electric one, through an experience familiar to the company like that of racing competition. This has been a consolidated tradition for the Borgo Panigale company starting from the Ducati 851, which inaugurated the trend of Ducati road sports bikes by revolutionizing the concept with its innovative two-cylinder water-cooled engine, electronic fuel injection and the new twin-shaft, four-valve heads, deriving from the Ducati 748 IE bike that made its debut in endurance races at Le Castellet in 1986.”

The arrangement will see Ducati as the sole manufacturer in the MotoE series for now.

On MotoGP’s website, Ducati big boss Claudio Domenicali said “This agreement comes at the right time for Ducati, which has been studying electric powertrains for years, as it will allow us to develop within a controlled field: that of competition. We will work to give every participant in the FIM MotoE World Cup a high-performance, electric motorcycle and one made to exemplify being lightweight.

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