Kawasaki is reportedly working on a new electric motocross bike with swappable batteries. The news comes from a drawing of what appears to be a motocross bike attached to a patent filed by Team Green.
Due to legislation, the transition to electric is already in full swing in the automotive industry, but it is still eerily quiet in this area for motorcycles. However, electrification is also being worked on here, as evidenced by the patent applications that pass by every now and then. Team Green is clearly ahead of the game here, with two HEV models this year (Ninja 7 Hybrid and Z7 Hybrid) and two EV models (Z e1 and Ninja e-1).
In previous reporting we already wrote that Kawasaki had also applied for a patent for a Versys 7 Hybrid – which would be a very logical step, given the popularity of the mid-range ‘Allroad’ segment, and now it turns out Kawasaki has also filed a patent for an off-road model with interchangeable batteries.
The patent application does not mention a specific model, but only concerns an interesting piece of technology: replaceable batteries. These removable batteries can be charged separately, which means that in theory you could have multiple batteries and continuously replace them when they are empty.
So far, nothing new under the sun. Kawasaki has done exactly the same with the Z e-1 and Ninja e-1 launched this year, which also feature a double battery. In the new patent, Kawasaki has now focused on a safety device that monitors the flow of voltage from the battery to the electric motor, to prevent the electric motor from getting too much voltage.
The illustrations filed with the patent suggest that the new EV model is an electric motocrosser, but it could also be an electric Versys. The sketch is too primitive to be able to provide any definitive answer. But given the fact that Kawasaki already has two EV models and that neither of them served as an illustration for the patent, Kawasaki seems to be working on an EV off-road motorcycle.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.