E-Xplorer brings Extreme E ethos to motorcycle racing

From its launch three years ago, Extreme E has promoted inclusivity, environmentalism and modern technology as core strengths. Now those elements are starting to inspire other ventures like E-Xplorer FIM World Cup, an international electric all-terrain motorcycle racing series.

E-Xplorer shares a lot in common with Extreme E, in particular its use of electric vehicles and teams with an even split of male and female participants, but there’s one major difference: there’s only half as many wheels.

Yes, E-Xplorer is a motorcycle championship. The first of its kind, too. Each round consists of teams of a male and female rider battling in a head-to-head knockout contest. The races -- two-lap relays with one rider doing the first lap and their teammate doing the second -- start with best-of-three heats, with each round eliminating the losing teams until one is left and crowned the event champion.

Valentin Guyonnet is the man behind it. He previously competed on two wheels in enduro, trials, freestyle, but then worked in Formula E since its inception, firstly as project coordinator, then as its senior partnerships manager. But then after sampling one of Electric Motion’s electric trials bikes three years ago, Guyonnet set about starting up a new championship to promote electric bikes and target a younger demographic.

“For the last 10 years I've been working with Alejandro (Agag), in Formula E and in 2020, I jumped on one of the bikes from Electric Motion, and I was like, ‘Wow, I mean, we are there. I'm pretty sure we can race those bikes,’” he recalls. “So I went to see Alejandro and said, ‘I think we should do something.’

Agag is something of the go-to man when it comes to electric racing. Formula E was his brainchild, as was Extreme E and the upcoming E1 boat series. With him and Ali Russell (Extreme E’s managing director) onboard alongside Guyonnet, the series had a proven backbone from day one, and it’s already attracted global appeal.

“We have nine racing teams, from Japan, Australia, France, UK, the U.S., and five different manufacturers,” Guyonnet explains. “We’re in the middle of Season 1 -- we've done Barcelona in May, we did Crans-Montana racing on top of the Swiss Alps, over 2000 meters (1200 ft) in altitude at the end of June. You needed to take the gondola to go to the racetrack -- that was epic.

“The next race is in France, and then we’re keeping a little surprise for the end of the season, a little exotic spot.”

Multiple manufacturers have already been attracted by E-Xplorer’s open technical rules.

Manufacturers have been quick to get involved, aided by the open technical regulations – something which Formula E didn’t do in its first season, and that Extreme E has still yet to do.

“We did a call for expression of interest with the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme, motorcycle racing’s equivalent to the FIA) and to see who would answer it. We had more or less 10 manufacturers who came out and said they wanted to participate,” Guyonnet says. “It showed directly that the manufacturers wanted to be involved. So what do we do? Do we take the same chassis for everyone? But we went to see, for example, Honda and I was like, ‘Would you be willing to race a KTM chassis?’ ‘Hell no!’ So OK, so we had no choice -- we needed to make it open.

“Season 1 is very start-up focused, so we have, for example, Sur-Ron, the Chinese brand, we've got Electric Motion, the French manufacturer, CAKE from Sweden, etc. All the bikes have very different chassis specs, but we make courses that make it super even."

Budgets for a two-bike team running five events comes in at around half a million Euros ($546,000) -- not a small amount of money by any means, but for a factory-backed team in any kind of motorsport, it's a relative bargain. There’s no budget cap yet, but that could be implemented if the major players in the motorcycle industry join later down the line to prevent a repeat of what often occurs when factory teams join racing series and drive up budgets across the grid by spending a huge amount, only to depart after a few years because of those rising costs they played a part in influencing. An Extreme E-like personnel limit could also be factored in, too.

“Here, what we wanted to showcase is that it's a perfect platform for R&D for manufacturers, because the manufacturers want to build something reliable, that is good, that can, you can manage dust, heat, sand, rocks, vibration, and stuff like that,” Guyonnet notes. “So couldn't be more perfect than that.”

That’s not all though. There are plans for multiple divisions, with the old "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" approach being central to one, and technical innovation the aim of the other.

“We published a roadmap with the FIM explaining where we want to go in the industry,” he says. “We explained that we are going to do two categories: Consumer bikes -- you can purchase exactly the same bike -- and prototypes. Because some manufacturers, as they are not in production yet, want to show that they are going into electric with the R&D. We are onboarding major manufacturers through that, and we created a light electric vehicle manufacturers association to drive this roadmap.

“This prototype phase will be open to even extra technology, because today we are doing it with a lithium ion battery, but tomorrow, maybe hydrogen will come and so we need to leave it open. The motorcycle industry is moving very, very quickly.”

Like in Extreme E, male/female race teams emphasize the inclusive aspirations of E-Xplorer, which aim to push the boundaries of what Guyonnet feels is an aging motorcycle industry.

Part of that movement has been forced by a need to stay relevant – not just technologically, but to its customer base too.

“They are reacting for one main reason: that the motorcycle industry is aging,” Guyonnet declares. “It is not up to date -- it's loud, you burn yourself, and it's from the past. And now they are struggling to attract the next generation. So we have a very strong focus on the next gen, starting with kids from three years old with a little balance bike. You will see all our athletes -- like the youngest one, I think she's 16 years old -- need to be very athletic because most of the time you start with a motorcycle, and when you're successful like Stephen Peterhansel and Laia Sanz, then you switch to automobiles.”

The synergy between Extreme E and E-Xplorer could lead to collaborations in future, something that was teased during a demonstration at the most recent Extreme E round in Sardinia. But while that collaboration is the most obvious one, E-Xplorer could also position itself as a partner to Formula E, with it keen to promote two-wheeled mobility in cities, and FE’s city-centric schedule.

“We are cousins -- Alejandro is a shareholder of E-Xplorer," Guyonnet says. "We are all-terrain, so there is synergy in between, even with Formula E because the thing is, we race in city centers or in a remote location, so we want to keep both things.

“Over 80 percent of the two-wheel market is mopeds in city centers -- mostly China, India, Indonesia. We really have this crazy opportunity, as the footprint is small. So I think we want to keep open where we are in the city centers, and sometimes when we have the opportunity, like the Swiss Alps, to go to the most crazy place where no petrol bikes are allowed, we go there. I want a series where we go where people would not expect us. So, I don't know, maybe the Great Wall of China or things like that. So between all the electric racing series, there is a lot where we can do collaborations.”