autoevolution
 

Electric Kawasaki Ninja Partially Unveiled, Still No Launch Date in Sight

Despite the rise in popularity of the electric drivetrain in the motorcycle industry, established builders are still reluctant to fully adopt them. To date, the only big name of the industry to announce a mass-produced electric motorcycle is Harley-Davidson.
Electric Kawasaki Ninja 1 photo
Photo: futurecar.com
Others in the industry, like Kawasaki, are not entirely opposed to the idea, but they are taking their sweet time in coming up with their own design. From time to time, they shed a little more light on whatever projects they are working on, but only just.

This past few weeks, the Italian city of Milan was once again the motorcycle capital of the world. At the local EICMA show, tons of goodies were shown, both production and concepts. It was there that the Japanese have decided to release some of the details of their first electric bike.

Based on the Ninja line, the EV has been in the works for years, and it seems all Kawasaki was capable of coming up with is an indecently small range, and shameful power.

As per the data provided by the bike maker, the unnamed bike – for now it is only referred to as EV Project – is the size of a Ninja 650 frame, and uses a battery that is barely capable of giving it a range of 62 miles.

The motor that spins the rear wheel via a chain final drive instead of a belt is controlled by a 4-speed transmission, and is good for just 27 horsepower.

It’s worth noting this is just a development prototype, currently under testing in southern Japan, and probably – hopefully – these figures will change when and if a production version is approved.

The bike has been, according the Kawasaki, “based on a mid-capacity style machine with more ‘rider features’ than current EV machines in the market,” but no other details were provided, not even the possible launch date.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Daniel Patrascu
Daniel Patrascu profile photo

Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories