Kawasaki presents its first two electric motorcycles

After years of development, Kawasaki has finally presented its first two electric motorcycle models. Ten more are to follow by 2025, which means that development will have to pick up significantly soon.

The electric motorbikes are called Ninja e-1 and Z e-1 and are powered by an electric motor with 5 kW continuous output and are intended to compete with the 125cc class of motorcycles. Via “e-boost”, up to 9 kW can be mobilised temporarily. Kawasaki puts the top speed for both models at 99 km/h. The energy storage is provided by two removable batteries.

Two removable batteries serve as energy storage, which should allow a range of 72 kilometres in the WMTC (World Motorcycle Test Cycle). It is therefore not surprising that Kawasaki advertises the two electric motorcycles as “for inner-city use”. Kawasaki writes that “both machines will arrive int he UK next month” and that prices are to be announced shortly.

Kawasaki reportedly plans to electrify all its motorbikes for the markets in Japan, Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia by 2035. The Japanese manufacturer includes both purely battery-electric and hybrid motorbikes. Kawasaki plans to introduce at least ten such models by 2025.

The Japanese manufacturer had initially floated the idea of going electric all the way back in 2015, when the company began filing patents, and registered the names Ninja E2 and E2R as trademarks. By 2019, an electric motorcycle model was confirmed to be in development, but only revealed the name of the vehicle a year later, alongside other information and videos of it in action.

kawasaki.co.uk, kawasaki.de (Z e-1 specs, in German), kawasaki.de (Ninja e-1 specs, in German),