Following Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire announcement Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali has been quoted in Italian media committing to electric motorcycles.

“The future is electric and we are not far from starting series production,” he told Spanish design students without giving any more details.

We believe there could be an electric Ducati in showrooms by 2020 and we can reliably guess what it might be.

A long-term project with Milan’s Scuola Politechnica di Design has led to an electric Hypermotard design (pictured) and a fully-faired electric superbike.

In recent years Ducati has emerged as a pioneer in electronics technology and an electric Ducati would certainly fit that image.

Domenicali is also said to have been given a Hypermotard converted by electric bike specialists Zero to demonstrate the possibilities of combining the Italian bike with an electric powertrain.

Other major companies with plans in the same arena include KTM, which was spied testing an electric-powered version of the Duke last year.

By Ben Purvis