Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn’t want an e-bike.

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Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.
Sunfire

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.

6th pictures

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.
Sunfire

1/6
E-fuels are synthetic fuels that are produced using electricity, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.
Ducati

2/6
Francesco Milicia, Head of Sales at Ducati, talks about the intermediate step e-fuel before an e-Ducati arrives.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.
WTT

3/6
The efficiency of e-fuels is still too low compared to fuel cells and battery-electric vehicles.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.
Siemens / Porsche

4/6
Siemens and Porsche are also researching e-fuels. Group sister Ducati would like to dock on their results and probably also on the infrastructure.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.
Sunfire

5/6
There is an e-fuel plant in Norway that aims to produce 10 million tons of e-fuel annually as a kerosene substitute or additive from 2023. Today, 50% of the kerosene on flights can already consist of e-fuels.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.
Rendering: Bart Heijt, Fernando Pastre

6/6
Ducati-Zero: The design of an electrically powered race bike comes from two students from Milan. The Dutchman Bart Heijt and his Brazilian fellow student Fernando Pastre designed the Ducati Zero as a master’s thesis in “Transportation and Car Design” at the polytechnic design school in Milan.

counselor

technology & future

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn’t want an e-bike.

Ducati stays with the combustion engine
Better e-fuel than electro in Bologna

Ducati rejects electromobility in the medium term. Bologna would like to focus on e-fuels first before the topic of electronics comes on the agenda.


Jens Kratschmar

April 19, 2021

In this article:

  • What are e-fuels?
  • Is that as good as gasoline?
  • Is that sustainable??
  • Author’s opinion:
  • What does Ducati want with e-fuel?
  • Why not an electric Duc?
  • New technical territory
  • Why then Harley and Live Wire?
  • Conclusion

Who is leaning further out of the window?? CEO Dominicalli, who conjures up Ducati’s electric future in 2019. Or 2021 sales manager Francesco Milicia, who sees a Ducati powered by e-fuel before driving an E-Duc for the first time. Bologna thinks electrically, but there shouldn’t be an electric motorcycle from Ducati in the near future, says Milicia. As part of the Volkswagen Group, Ducati would initially like to concentrate on the possibilities of synthetic fuels based on hydrogen, so-called e-fuels.

What are e-fuels?

A synthetic fuel that does not consist of fossil raw materials but that is obtained from hydrogen generated by electricity is called e-fuel. The hydrogen is created by the electrolysis of water, with oxygen at one electrode and hydrogen at the other. The reverse process could generate electricity in a fuel cell. E-fuels are created when the hydrogen is methanated with carbon dioxide; this results in very long carbon chains, similar to those in petroleum or gasoline. Depending on the mixture with the CO2, a synthetic diesel, petrol or e-gas can be produced. E-fuels can be filled up and burned directly. Ideally, no more CO2 escapes than was previously used for methanation. In this respect, e-fuels are CO2-neutral.


Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.


Ducati

Francesco Milicia, Head of Sales at Ducati, talks about the intermediate step e-fuel before an e-Ducati arrives.

Is that as good as gasoline?

However, since the production of e-fuel is very complex and the generation of hydrogen by electrolysis is energy-intensive, the overall efficiency drops to 10 to 15%. In comparison: a normal combustion engine achieves around 30% efficiency, an electric vehicle more than 70% even under unfavorable circumstances. The CO2 balance improves when “cheaper” Electricity was used to generate hydrogen when it was in Germany. Long transport routes, however, again result in a negative energy balance and the aim is actually to use alternative drives to shorten global supply chains.


Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.


WTT

The efficiency of e-fuels is still too low compared to fuel cells and battery-electric vehicles.

Is that sustainable??

The production of e-fuel can only be sustainable if the electricity for it comes from renewable sources; in addition, the carbon dioxide used should either come from the ambient air or be a waste product from industry. Because of the high production costs, the use of e-fuel as a replacement for the electric drive in small engines makes little sense. It is more desirable in large engines and vehicles for which electricity is currently not a real option: ships, airplanes and possibly trucks. As a substitute for heavy fuel oil and kerosene, e-fuels could make a major contribution to air pollution control; in aircraft, the waste heat from the combustion engine is used Heating, which is always difficult with an electric drive.

But how sensible is the use of e-fuels for a motorcycle manufacturer like Ducati?

Author’s opinion:

What does Ducati want with e-fuel?

Ducati is a small manufacturer. With almost 50,000 motorcycles sold worldwide, the subject of electric as a sub-area is difficult to imagine profitably. E-fuels are at least potential “green”, With the small numbers and the corresponding amount of fuel, production efficiency is not so crucial; aside from that the sister company Porsche is currently gaining experience with it and Audi is active on the subject of e-gas with a system. The advantage of e-fuels: The reciprocating piston engines from Ducati could be the sole drive of the Reds for a few more years.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.

traffic & business


Ducati boss on the subject of electric motorcycles

“The future will be electric”

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Why not an electric Duc?

From a purely economic point of view, research, development and market maturity of an electric motorcycle parallel to combustion engines alone make no sense for Ducati. In 2020 Ducati sold 48,042 motorcycles, generating sales of 676 million euros and, with a profit of 24 million euros, a return on sales of just four percent. Around 1,800 employees worldwide provide this service. For Ducati, it is difficult to imagine building a complete development department from this comparatively small workforce and few free resources to produce an electric model. And whether Ducati would like to afford to be considered unprofitable in the group and thus want to provoke sales rumors again is questionable. However: On the part of the Volkswagen Group, the investment in an E-Ducati would be a small and easy one. The bonus: Volkswagen would also be a pioneer when it comes to two-wheeled e-mobility.


Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.


Rendering: Bart Heijt, Fernando Pastre

Ducati-Zero: The design of an electrically powered race bike comes from two students from Milan. The Dutchman Bart Heijt and his Brazilian fellow student Fernando Pastre designed the Ducati Zero as a master’s thesis in “Transportation and Car Design” at the polytechnic design school in Milan.

New technical territory

Despite the strongly electrified sister companies VW, Audi and Porsche: A technology transfer to Ducati is not easy, as the requirements for an electric motorcycle are different in every dimension: 2,500 kilos of e-SUVs vs. 200 kilos of e-super sports cars. At best, synergies can be expected in the long term – if the energy density of the battery cells has increased by a double-digit percentage rate and ranges can be achieved on the level of bikes with combustion engines and the weight can remain below five hundredweight for a sporty Ducati motorcycle, even with high performance.

Ducati is rowing back and initially doesn't want an e-bike.

Electric


Driving report Harley-Davidson LiveWire production bike

Electric Harley really bangs

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Why then Harley and Live Wire?

The signs on Harley-Davidson and Live Wire are slightly different. Even in crisis years, H-D still has a good 2.4 billion dollars in motorcycle sales and employs a good 5,000 people. Under such conditions, a completely new product like the Live Wire must be developed, far removed from any model history,even, as recently announced, now in a completely separate department. In the context of the company figures, the reluctance of Japanese manufacturers to use electronics is astonishing.

opinion poll

How do you feel about the electric motorcycle??

Voted 9 times in 2018

Out of the question for me.

The future of the two-wheeler for urban traffic.

There is no getting around the electric motorcycle.

Conclusion

The current “No” Francesco Milicia justifies the Ducati e-motorcycle with the usual reasons: too high weight, too little range and the lack of driving pleasure that Ducatisti probably expect. But that also says: We have dealt with it, but are just not getting anywhere. A look at the group could help in the next few years, even if current e-cars are not known for their low weight. Nevertheless, the goals of the car manufacturers are the same: the weight of the electric drive has to be reduced, the range increased.

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