Hybrid model of Kawasaki photographed on the public road in Italy.

We are now at the end of September 2023 and, for over a year, Kawasaki has been revealing small details about the development of its electric and hybrid motorcycles to the world. Their electric model plans have been discussed since at least 2019, while hybrid motorcycle plans began to emerge a little later, starting in 2020. It is reasonable to think that manufacturers have many ongoing discussions behind closed doors, so there is no good way to know for sure when their internal discussions truly began. What we do know is that Kawasaki brought their electric and hybrid motorcycle prototypes to the 2022 Suzuka 8 Hours race in Japan. Participants were able to see the two motorcycles on the track, and we, in other parts of the world, were able to see photos and videos. A few months later, EICMA 2022 took place in Milan, Italy, in November. Kawasaki presented a prototype of the Ninja EV, a prototype of the Z EV, and their hybrid EV prototype – or HEV, to abbreviate. Although the Ninja and Z EV prototypes were designed and discussed by Kawasaki as short-range urban mobility motorcycles with removable and replaceable batteries, the HEV was designed more as a fun long-range motorcycle.

Now that we are at the end of September 2023, we have seen Kawasaki UK announce the imminent arrival of the electric motorcycles Ninja e-1 and Z e-1. Although they have not confirmed the exact dates yet, the brand says they are coming soon and has shown a set of official promotional images of these motorcycles in what appears to be their final production version.

Due to images from the Torino Chronicle for another report in the city center of Turin, it seems we have our first contact with what could be the final production version of the Kawasaki HEV. The newspaper published the video as an Instagram video, where it has already received almost three thousand likes at the time this article was written. 

In the video, we can see a photography van partially blocking a motorcycle while turning a corner. Clearly, someone is sitting inside, recording videos and/or taking photos. The van doors are open and the motorcycle rider has long blonde hair. A man in a black sweater and jeans holds white papers and tells the Torino Chronicle staff that they cannot film or photograph the motorcycle, which naturally leads them to zoom in, as can be seen in this video. 

Kawasaki itself has already presented the HEV publicly before, so the shape of the motorcycle is nothing new. Instead, what appears to be our first look may be the final appearance and graphics of the upcoming HEV. Obviously, nothing is official until Kawasaki says it is, but the white and green Kawasaki paint we see on this motorcycle closely resembles the finished graphics of the recently revealed Ninja e-1 and Z e-1.  

Also, we can see that the graphics on the side of the bike designate this vehicle as Ninja HEV. Once again, it’s not exactly a surprise, given the extensive fairing and HEV design we’ve seen so far. However, it’s still nice to see another confirmation. 

It’s not clear when we can expect to see an official announcement about the launch of the Kawasaki HEV in any market, but EICMA 2023 is coming up in early November. We are currently in the phase of all the new model announcements that manufacturers are making for 2024, so stay tuned.