First look at electric Kawasaki Ninja and Kawasaki Z electric motorcycle, coming out in 2023
Kawasaki took to the EICMA Milan Motorcycle Show to unveil a trio of electric motorcycles, with Electrek front and center to see the action live. The Kawasaki Ninja EV and Kawasaki Z EV were revealed as traditional battery electric motorcycles, while the company also unveiled an HEV hydrogen-powered concept motorcycle.
I’ll spare you the uninspired cliché about “Team Green going green,” and we’ll just get to the bikes.
Electric Kawasaki Ninja unveiled
While the electric Ninja and Z models are both still in prototype form, Kawasaki Motors president Hiroshi Ito announced to the audience that the two models would be available for purchase next year.
As Ito explained:
This is the Z Battery Electric Vehicle shown briefly at Intermot and now the very first Ninja BEV. These BEV versions represent two of Kawasaki’s leading brands, Ninja and the Z. Soon these pre- production machines will become actual production machines available to our customers in 2023.
As has been common with electric motorbike unveilings at EICMA this year, hard and fast tech specs are nearly non-existent on the models.
However, Ito did provide two key pieces of info, explaining:
European A1 license compliant, they will bring exciting ‘good times’ to daily commuting. They each have a large battery capacity of up to 3.0 kWh with two 12 kg battery packs that are easily removable.
Those two nuggets point to extremely muted performance from the bikes. Ito wasn’t kidding when he described them as fulfilling a daily commuting role. A1-compliant motorcycles in Europe have a maximum motor power of just 11 kW. That’s not particularly powerful, and puts the bikes in a 125cc-equivalent class.
Perhaps more striking is the limited battery capacity. 3 kWh of battery is diminutive compared to most electric motorcycles today. Batteries from Zero Motorcycles range from around 7 to 17 kWh, while Energica offers over 21 kWh of battery.
Even small, low-cost electric motorcycles like the SONDORS Metacycle and Ryvid Anthem, both of which are designed for commuter roles, offer at least 4 kWh of capacity.
Thus, it is unlikely for the Ninja EV to boast a range much higher than 75 km (47 miles) at city speeds, and likely around half of that range at highway speeds.
The removable batteries are surely designed to compensate for the low capacity, offering an easy way for riders to charge their batteries at home or in an apartment. But with today’s flagship electric motorcycles offering 5-7x as much battery as Kawasaki’s new entries, it is hard to imagine the brand will be competitive in the space when the motorcycles launch next year.
Of course, these figures shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. We’ve known that Kawasaki was planning a low-performance electric motorcycle for some time.
At the same show three years ago, Kawasaki rolled out a prototype electric Ninja that rocked a 10 kW motor (20 kW peak rating) and claimed a range of 100 km (62 miles).
At the time we assumed that the bike would undergo significant development to improve its performance, but that hasn’t seemed to be the case.
The bikes look impressive, no doubt. But under those panels rest a small and underpowered motor coupled to a pair of batteries smaller than the ones in the my electric scooter.
Why use such small batteries?
The only reason I can think of for Kawasaki to outfit their electric sport bikes with batteries sized for a scooter is because that might be exactly what they are: scooter batteries.
Kawasaki has spent years as part of a battery development consortium in Japan, originally created among the Big Four of Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki.
The consortium’s original goal was to develop a standard for swappable electric motorcycle batteries. In actuality, it is starting to look like the growing consortium is simply defaulting to Honda’s Mobile Power Pack design, which is essentially a Gogoro-style scooter battery.
Honda’s MPP batteries are the right size and capacity to fit into Kawasaki’s spec sheet, and so the company could be planning to incorporate those batteries into its motorcycles. Looking through the vents in the display prototypes shows a lack of batteries at all, so it is still anyone’s guess how Kawasaki ultimately plans to power its electric motorcycles.
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Climate XChange’s 9th Annual EV Raffle is your chance to win the electric car of your dreams – from Rivian to Tesla to Porsche and more!
But don’t wait, because there are only 5,000 tickets available!
Imagine getting to custom order your perfect EV, with every detail just the way you want it, up to $120,000, and with all taxes covered. That’s what the Grand Prize Winner gets to do – and you could be that winner.
How it works
Enter at CarbonRaffle.org/Electrek. Every ticket you buy is one entry to win. Climate XChange is only selling 5,000 tickets, which means your odds are better here than most internet sweepstakes! Plus, you can feel good knowing your ticket supports an amazing cause: pushing for state-level climate action and advancing the transition to a zero-emissions economy.
The prizes
- Grand Prize: Custom-built EV of your choice, valued up to $120,000, with all taxes covered.
- 2nd Place: $12,500 cash.
- 3rd Place: $7,500 cash.
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That’s two drawings for the price of one ticket – and four chances to win big!
Why enter?
Climate XChange has been making dreams come true for nearly a decade. Last year’s winner drove off in a custom red Tesla Model X Plaid, and you could be next! Climate XChange takes fairness seriously: It prints every raffle ticket stub and live-streams the entire drawing process, ensuring transparency. Independent auditors oversee everything, so you know the drawing is legit.
Who is Climate XChange?
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Get your ticket today
Visit CarbonRaffle.org/Electrek to grab your ticket. Limited tickets are available – remember, Climate XChange is only selling 5,000 tickets – so don’t miss your shot at an electric future!
Climate XChange EV Raffle rules summary
- Must be 18 or older to enter.
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All proceeds support Climate XChange’s work to push for ambitious climate policy – so even if you don’t win, you’re still making a difference.
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China just connected its largest single-capacity solar farm built on a former coal mining area, which is in the Gobi Desert, to the grid.
The Mengxi Blue Ocean Photovoltaic Power Station, located in Otog Front Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, came online on November 5. With a massive installed capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW) and over 5.9 million solar panels, the plant will generate around 5.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually – enough to power 2 million households.
This huge project will save about 1.71 million tons of standard coal each year and cut carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 4.7 million tons, which is equivalent to planting 62,700 hectares (around 155,000 acres) of trees.
Built on coal mining subsidence land, Mengxi Blue Ocean is part of China’s national West-East Electricity Transfer Project, which brings investment and development to western China west while supplying the growing need for electricity in the eastern provinces.
The solar farm includes the country’s first large-scale outdoor solar testing base in the Gobi Desert climate, demonstrating the potential for large solar installations in challenging environments.
The power station makes use of new rare earth alloy grounding materials, cutting costs by 40%. It also replaces traditional concrete foundations with steel to minimize impact on the local grassland ecosystem.
Chuang Xihong, deputy director of the Engineering Construction Department of Guodian Power Group, CHN Energy’s parent company, explained that Mengxi Blue Ocean is an agrivoltaic project as well [via PV Tech]:
Fine forage and sand-fixing plants are planted under the PV modules, providing grazing for Australian White Sheep and chickens. A composite ecological development model will be established where PV power generation and breeding will go hand in hand.
Read more: China powers up the world’s largest open-sea offshore solar farm
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