Kawasaki

Kawasaki: production-ready electrics and hybrids By Ben Purvis

Kawasaki has been among the most vocal of Japan's bike makers in terms of its plans to launch multiple battery-electric, hybrid and hydrogen-powered motorcycles in the near future, and it surprised crowds at the Suzuka 8-Hour race by demonstrating two near-production ready machines on track ahead of the race.
Kawasaki previously revealed an electric prototype in 2019 and showed an early version of its hybrid bike last year, but these new machines differ significantly from those development models.
The HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle) is the higher-performance and more sophisticated machine. Based around a parallel twin engine - it appears to be from the Z400 - with a large electric motor mounted above its transmission and a relatively small battery pack under the seat. 

Hybrid prototype

In town, it's able to run on pure electric power, although with a relatively short range thanks to the small, light battery. On longer, constant-speed runs, it uses the twin-cylinder petrol engine, operating at an efficient speed to drive the bike and simultaneously recharge the battery pack.
When you need all the performance at once, both powertrains run simultaneously, offering more performance than either could achieve alone. The result should be economy and emissions equivalent to a small bike, maybe a 250 cc machine, and performance similar to a Ninja 650, with none of the range or recharging problems associated with pure
electric bikes.
It uses a conventional combustion engine and transmission, but with the foot-operated gear shift replaced by an electrically operated version, controlled by switches on the left-hand bar, with an automatically controlled clutch. The move to semi-auto shifting means the transition between electric and petrol power can be achieved relatively seamlessly.
The frame is purpose-made for the bike, but isn't unnecessarily exotic - it's a tubular steel design, with a box-section swingarm at the rear and off-the-shelf suspension and modest brakes. 

 

Electric prototype

The second bike shown at Suzuka, the pure electric, was completely different to the prototype revealed in 2019. Where that was a sports-style bike with a permanent battery and a conventional manual transmission, the bike seen at Suzuka was a smaller, 125 cc-equivalent offering with a direct drive, single-speed transmission and no clutch.
It also appears to have swappable batteries in a case that's accessed by removing the top of the 'fuel tank' section in front of the rider. Power is expected to be limited to 11 kW to ensure it fits into learner bike legislation, but the final machine's styling is likely to be substantially different to the bodywork seen here, which is largely borrowed from the existing Z125 model.
Both models are likely to get an official debut later in 2022 and to reach showrooms at some stage in the next 12 months.