Can MotoGP go full Electric?

We all love the roaring sound of an in-line 4-cylinder engine of a MotoGP bike. But, will it head towards electric implementation? Let’s find out!

By stating that all fuels used in world championship racing must be biofuel or synthetic fuel by 2027, MotoGP is setting the bar high.

It is simple to overlook how the racing environment will alter over the next 10 years with all the buzz and discussion around the introduction of electric and hybrid bikes. There is no way that racing can continue on its merry, fossil fuel-burning path without consequences if the rest of the world is being compelled to switch to electric vehicles.

In ten years, MotoE may replace MotoGP as the premier class, which isn’t always a joyful prospect. Maybe by that time, we would have become accustomed to a faint whistle rather than a screaming exhaust noise.

What then is the solution? The FIM and Dorna, the owners of the MotoGP rights, have plans in place to lower the carbon footprint of professional motorcycle racing by switching from fossil fuels to alternative, green fuels. They aim to utilise only sustainable fuels by 2027 after using non-fossil fuels at a rate of 40% by 2024.

Of course, one of the main motivations for such a project is to investigate and provide other fuels that the public may use instead of switching to all-electric vehicles.

It will be difficult to replace decades of expertise in fossil fuel combustion with a solid working knowledge of synthetic fuels, but racing is nothing more than a cauldron of experts working much more quickly than any civilian organisation could. The potential rewards for figuring it out faster than your competitors are enormous, and in the end, you and I, the end user, will benefit. Anything that keeps us from having to switch to fully electric vehicles is to be applauded.

Even while it can seem like there are no constraints for creating synthetic or biofuels, there are several.

Biofuels cannot be made from food crops; instead, they must be made from forestry and agricultural waste products or from plants cultivated on unsuitable soil. Likewise, it is forbidden to use synthetic fuels that were created using carbon-emitting energy sources.