FIM creates electric motorcycle race series

Photo: Amadeus Photography

The FIM is creating a race series for electric motorcycles beginning next year. Details are slim beyond that, but it will be run "inside the Road Racing Grand Prix Commission" meaning it could be a support series for MotoGP at some races. The news comes shortly after the TTXGP captured the imagination of the general public with genuine technological innovation if not terribly exciting racing. Azhar Hussain, the man behind the TTXGP, will be in charge of the series.

In the wake of the TTXGP there's been a lot of talk going around of something called eGrandPrix and its possible inclusion of electric car racing. It's not currently clear if this will be the name of the new series, but we'd guess that's still up in the air given the lack of a name in the official release. Confusingly, there will be an eGrandPrix event at the Mid-Ohio Vintage Motorcycle Days next month, but that'll included exhibition laps rather than full-on racing.

Since this will be an FIM series, we're going to go out on a limb and assume that cars won't be involved.

News of this series is incredibly exciting. Electric motorcycles are advancing by leaps and bounds. Only a couple of years ago I road the Intelligent Energy ENV, which was little more than a mountain bike equipped with funky styling and a hydrogen fuel cell (that mode of power is essentially an electric motorcycle with a quick-to-refill hydrogen fuel cell instead of slow-to-recharge batteries), but just this year we've ridden bikes from Quantya, Zero and Brammo, all of which have been genuinely fast, exciting, realistic products. An international race series will serve as a proving ground for new technology, advancing the breed as well as creating interest in and money for new electric bikes. Since motorcycles serve as a much better platform for electric powertrains than cars do, the publicity and new products that could come out of this could propel a new boom for the motorcycle industry worldwide. Maybe some good will come out of the Green movement afterall.

FIM