Kawasaki's video means we may get a Japanese electric motorcycle

I've been wondering when one of the Japanese manufacturers will finally jump into the electric market, beyond home-country tinkering with support systems and the like. Years later, I'm still amazed and disappointed that Honda has brought the Super Cub back to the U.S. market but still hasn't put the EV-Cub concept into production. Yamaha has shown off some electric bicycles. But where are the electric motorcycles from Japan?

This Kawasaki is clearly not the consumer-ready model I'm waiting for. The video reveals a prototype electric bike being tested on the track, with Yoshimoto Matsuda, senior manager of the Innovation Department explaining a few things about the bike. (Doesn't working in the Innovation Department sound like a coveted job?) A statement issued at EICMA by Kawasaki noted that this Ninja 650-size, trellis-framed prototype produces 27 horsepower and weighs nearly 500 pounds, leading a lot of people to wonder, why bother? Those specs would make it uncompetitive with any electric motorcycle on the market now.

To me, that just confirms that this is a prototype for testing purposes, not a motorcycle destined to become a consumer model. I still think it's significant, however, that Kawasaki management is willing to go public with their work and release this video. That tells me that we really are likely to see a consumer product result from this effort some day, not just this Innovation Department exercise.

Second, there are a few interesting choices on this bike. The presence of a gearbox and clutch is an interesting choice, since other manufacturers have shown it's not necessary with an electric drivetrain. Even more unique is the "thumb brake-activated energy recovery system." Thumb brakes on the left handlebar have occasionally been used by racers — from Mick Doohan in the 1990s, because of lack of movement in his right leg, to some of today's MotoGP racers who can't get a foot on a brake pedal at extreme lean angles in righthand turns — but this is a new concept for a street-going electric bike.

I don't expect those features to make it to a production model, in keeping with the idea that this is a prototype made for testing purposes only. If those features did show up on a street bike, it would mean the Kawasaki rider would have the busiest left hand in street motorcycling, operating both a clutch and a control for regenerative braking, while some other electric bikes, like the Zero line, let the rider's left hand take a vacation and just go along for the ride.

"Elements from this concept model will evolve," Matsuda notes.

Finally, there's one thing I think is not important but strikes me as strange. Look at the two photos below.

The first is an image of the display with the bike on the track. The second is the one shown of the bike parked in the garage. For whatever reason, the people who made the video decided they needed to explain that "97" on the display and added "SOC" (for state of charge) and the "%" mark. The letters and symbol are obviously added in the editing of the video and are not part of the LCD display. I wonder why they felt compelled to do that.