MotoE to be parked after 2025 as Dorna, FIM admit the spark never caught
MotoGP’s electric support series will switch off at the end of this season. After seven years trying to sell the soundless sprint, Dorna Sports and the FIM have confirmed MotoE is going on hiatus in 2025, pointing to lukewarm fan interest and an electric motorcycle market that never accelerated the way the industry once promised.
Launched in 2019 as a compact, single-make showcase for battery-powered superbikes, MotoE never lacked for action. It did, however, lack a crowd. Even its earliest months carried hard luck: a fire at a preseason test in Jerez destroyed all 18 bikes and delayed the inaugural campaign. The racing rebounded, but the traction never really came.
In a joint statement, Dorna and the FIM put it plainly: despite trying to future-proof the product, the audience didn’t follow, and the market realities have shifted. “MotoE has not been able to gain sufficient traction within our fanbase during its seven seasons of competition, during which time the electric performance motorcycle market has not developed as expected,” the statement read.
That’s the crux. While four wheels have found a home for electric racing with Formula E, two wheels remain a tougher sell. Manufacturers have increasingly turned attention toward cleaner internal combustion paired with sustainable fuels rather than pushing hard into high-performance electric bikes. MotoGP itself is moving that way: its fuels will become 100% non-fossil from 2027, up from a minimum of 40% non-fossil since 2024, mirroring the industry’s direction.
FIM president Jorge Viegas was candid about the decision. “We haven’t reached our objectives, nor has the industry associated with performance electric bikes,” he said, while making a point to praise the show MotoE did deliver. “The racing has been really fantastic and I would like to thank all the riders and teams that have competed in MotoE, and of course Dorna.”
Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta echoed that sentiment and the philosophy behind closing the chapter for now. MotoE, he said, “played a valuable role in MotoGP’s mission to innovate, fearlessly, and never shy away from staging something new.” But listening to fans and reading the market mattered just as much. “Together with the FIM, we have decided that the time is right to put MotoE on hiatus at the end of this season.”
The decision doesn’t write off electric outright. Both FIM and Dorna stressed they’ll keep watching the tech. “MotoE will be reconsidered should the relevance of electric motorcycles – or any other alternative sustainable technology – increase in the future,” the statement noted.
For now, it’s a pragmatic call. Ducati, the most recent spec supplier, gets a nod in the farewell alongside the teams and riders who’ve spent the last few seasons trying to make the silent sprint sing. Inside the paddock, there’s no mystery what held it back: without the visceral cues fans expect from bikes — noise, shifting, the raw mechanical drama — MotoE needed overwhelming performance or a booming market narrative to compensate. It never really got either, at least not at the scale required.
There’s a broader motorsport thread here too. The top tier is converging on low-carbon fuels and efficiency gains rather than full electrification. MotoGP’s 2027 fuel roadmap is explicit, and it’s consistent with where a lot of manufacturers see the next big step: sustainable energy carriers that keep the spectacle intact. If that’s the way the wind is blowing, MotoE was always going to be a harder sell as a support act rather than the main event.
Still, credit where it’s due. MotoE proved the format could be quick, tight, and safe; it offered a test bed for thermal management, battery packaging, and software control that will filter into the broader industry. It just didn’t move enough hearts in the grandstands — and that’s the metric that matters when you’re taking up a slot on a MotoGP weekend.
Hiatus is a polite word for “not now.” It’s also a door left ajar. If the electric bike market catches a second wind — through lighter, denser batteries or a genuine consumer surge — MotoE will be sitting on the shelf, fully formed and ready to plug back in. Until then, two wheels at the top level will chase their greener future on synthetic blends, not battery packs.
