Would MotoEco be a better option than MotoE in the future of MotoGP?

At the present, the climate catastrophe is generating a lot of news. Some argue that it is too late to turn the planet around as it hurtles towards the cliff’s edge – rainforests burning, glaciers melting – but surely it’s worth a shot? For a variety of reasons, motorsport must contribute to this endeavor.

Would MotoEco be a better option than MotoE in the future of MotoGP?

Formula One claims to be striving toward sustainability by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2030, both of which seem like exceedingly lofty goals. A move to carbon-neutral fuels, which do not add carbon dioxide – the most deadly greenhouse gas – to the environment, is part of this push. Electric-powered racing offers a different approach. Formula E, the electric car racing series, is already immensely popular, owing to the fact that it is developing its own niche away from F1, with races taking place in metropolitan centers such as Rome, London, New York, and Berlin, attracting a whole new audience. MotoGP launched MotoE in 2019 and is currently investigating carbon-neutral fuels for all three internal-combustion divisions. Within the following three years, these might debut in Moto2 and Moto3, before moving up to the premier class. But, in comparison to internal-combustion engines fuelled by carbon-neutral fuel, are electric racing, electric road cars, and electric motorcycles a better solution to major environmental issues? What are the chances?

However, now is the moment to find out. MotoGP technical director Danny Aldridge said, “We’re forming a working group with all the manufacturers.” “We’ll consult with them and the gasoline firms, who are the experts in this area, to determine the best course of action. “The manufacturers have given their blessing because they want this to happen. So we’ll have to come up with a fuel specification, test it, and then take it to the track. Starting with the lower categories makes sense, mainly because they use spec fuels. That won’t happen until 2024 at the earliest.” Of course, it’s critical to grasp what’s truly significant here, as MotoGP motorcycles contribute only a small portion of the sport’s overall emissions. Last year, Formula 1 conducted a research on its own emissions, which found that logistics account for 45 percent of emissions, personnel travel accounts for 28 percent, F1 factories and facilities account for 19 percent, event operations account for 7%, and actual racing accounts for 0.7 percent.

These figures do not include the number of supporters who travel to races, which might easily outnumber everything else. F1 already uses a small percentage of bio-waste in its current racing fuel (yep, that’s the nasty kitchen garbage you throw outside your front door for the recycling truck). It will use E10 gasoline next year, which contains 10% ethanol produced through plant fermentation and is already extensively used in road vehicles. Meanwhile, for the past four decades, Brazilian vehicles and motorcycles have run on E100 fuel, which is made entirely of sugarcane ethanol. Bio-fuels and synthetic fuels are two low-carbon fuel options that could help save the earth for human settlement. The first appears to be the easier alternative at first appearance, but you’ll need enough plants and plant waste, which may not be easy to come by, because we need plants to feed us, not to transport us up the road or around a racetrack.