Kawasaki was long rumoured to have been developing a hybrid system, leaked reports in the past also suggested that the brand had filed patents for a hybrid engine that could work on pure electric, hybrid (petrol+electric) and petrol-only options. Now the brand has teased us with a video that shows a prototype model is run on a dyno that features the hybrid technology, confirming that the rumours were indeed true and a new breed of motorcycles await in the near future.
The Japanese brand has not yet revealed any details about the powertrain capacity or the range that it will be able to provide once in series production but the teaser shows that the new electrified system will be integrated with Kawasaki Rideology connectivity system that is able to sense where the motorcycle is and automatically tune the engine to use either petrol power, petrol and electric power or only electric power. The Rideology system is also likely to switch from petrol power that will be used for highway riding and switch to pure electric within city limits when a geo-fenced location is detected. The motorcycle can also use hybrid power when riding in twisty’s where the rider will be able to enjoy the power-on-demand from the electric motor.
It is being speculated that the Hybrid Kawasaki motorcycle is likely to get the underpinnings from the Ninja 400 of the Z 400 by looking at the swingarm and the chassis. It is also likely to use the 400cc powertrain which could be heavily remodelled to accept the hybrid electric motor. The placement of the battery its output and the power figures are still unknown but the motorcycle is expected to have a pure electric range of about 30 km that allows the rider to traverse across cities which only allow clean transportation, in the near future. Since the petrol powertrain will be able to recharge the on-board battery, the rider will not have any range anxiety.