Kawasaki's vision of the future - hybrids, electric bikes and hydrogen fuel
By Ben Purvis
With climate change making headlines across the globe, Kawasaki is the first major Japanese motorcycle company to make a definitive commitment to a zero-emissions future - making the bold promise to electrify its entire range, in developed countries, by 2035.
It's an ambitious plan from a company that's yet to put a single electric model into showrooms, but it fits with wider intentions across Kawasaki Heavy Industries to clean up emissions on everything from shipping to aircraft. Having revealed a tentative prototype electric bike back in 2019, Kawasaki used the announcement in Tokyo to present a hybrid development machine. Although the company didn't reveal specifications, it appears to use the parallel twin engine from the Ninja 400 allied to an electric motor mounted above the transmission - which remains a conventional manual, albeit with electronically-activated shifts via bar-mounted buttons.
Hybrid
A small but powerful 48 volt battery pack, mounted under the rider's seat, powers the electric motor, which also doubles as a generator to replenish the battery while the bike is running on its petrol engine. A second, 12V battery operates the other electrical systems conventionally.
The hybrid system features an array of automated clutches that allow either the petrol engine, the electric motor or both to be connected to the transmission. In normal riding, outside towns, the idea is to use the petrol engine - remember, bikes are already a relatively green form of transport - while regenerating power for the battery while braking and coasting. Come into a city centre and the petrol engine is turned off altogether, with Kawasaki suggesting that geofencing technology could be used to automatically switch to all-electric mode whenever you come into a zero-emissions zone.
Finally, both the petrol engine and electric motor can be used together to give extra acceleration and power. Kawasaki has previously patented bar-mounted controls for precisely this use, incorporating a 'boost' button on the throttle grip, operated by the right thumb, to engage the electric assistance.
Hydrogen direct injection
The hybrid prototype is just the start, though. Kawasaki's development schedule for electric bikes is incredibly ambitious, with the company saying it will have more than 10 all-electric or hybrid production bikes in showrooms by 2025, with an average of 16 new models of all types to be unveiled every year by then. It's not just street bikes either, as there are also plans for electric and hybrid off-roaders and quads.
However, it's still not the end of the road for the combustion engine, at least as far as Kawasaki is concerned. The company is developing a hydrogen-fuelled, supercharged, four-cylinder engine - based on the H2 superbike's design - as a virtually emissions-free way to keep current technologies alive. Although not totally zero-emissions, as a hydrogen-fuelled engine it will still emit some NOx, most of the exhaust would be simply water vapour. The supercharged H2 engine already gives Kawasaki a head-start, as forced-induction is vital to making an efficient hydrogen-fuelled combustion engine.
As a development step towards the design, Kawasaki has revealed a dual-injected version of the H2's engine, with direct fuel injection straight into the cylinders as well as conventional port injection. The DI system on the prototype still uses petrol, fired into the cylinders and 1,450 psi (compared to 44 psi for the normal port injection system), using a mechanical pump, driven from the camshafts, to achieve it.
As well as showing the prototype engine, Kawasaki revealed a concept sketch of a futuristic, hydrogen-fuelled sports-tourer, clearly derived from the existing Ninja H2 SX. Far from being drab, Kawasaki's vision of a low-emissions future looks like one to look forward to.
