After becoming the first rider to complete a World Rally-Raid Championship race on an electric motorcycle, Pedro Bianchi Prata is bringing his e-bike to Morocco for the Addax Rally. He hopes to be the first e-bike rider to finish a desert rally raid in Africa.

Bianchi’s bike was developed in partnership with Spanish energy company Moeve, who designed a generator reliant on biocompost and synthetic fuel along with a battery that’s replaced every 40 kilometers. It raced for the first time at the Baja TT Escuderia Castelo Branco in March, where Bianchi finished 30th overall, followed by a 15th at the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura in May.

In September, Bianchi entered the W2RC’s BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal. Technically, it was not the first time an e-bike raced a W2RC event since such vehicles have appeared at the Dakar Rally in Mission 1000, but Bianchi’s Moeve was the first to race under FIM sanction.

After being set back by an early penalty for missing a checkpoint, the team battled with battery consumption and had to swap it as often as seven times each stage. Such circumstances were attributed to fast tracks and warm weather, the latter of which will obviously be a factor at the Addax Rally. By the end, Bianchi’s time would have ranked him 40th among all riders.

Bianchi initially thought of racing the Dubai and Qatar International Bajas with the bike, but decided against it following the death of his friend Jorge Brandão at the Rallye du Maroc. Brandão was supposed to run both events alongside Bianchi in preparation for the 2026 Dakar Rally.

The Addax Rally will take place from November 4 through 10.

“These will be tough days of sand, rock, heat, and pure navigation—the perfect test to push the electric motorcycle powered by Moeve to its limits,” said Bianchi.

“We’re currently in Morocco on an expedition with Italian clients, and the motorcycle is being tested every day in the desert—the same conditions in which it will compete.

“A new chapter begins now. The desert will be the stage. Electricity, the engine of change.”

Featured image credit: Offroad Center Bianchi Prata