At the end of 2021, Kawasaki CEO Hiroshi Ito confirmed that 2022 would be the year the brand would enter the electric motorcycle market, and we are now just weeks away from the official launch of two machines that promise to put in place a fight against competition.
By 2021, Ito said, “In 2022, we will show at least three electric vehicles around the world. That’s a promise.” The first of them was somewhat disappointing: the Elektrode, launched on the American market, which was only a battery-powered balance bike for children. The other two seem much more interesting.
Files published on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website in the United States show that Kawasaki will have two electric motorcycles in 2023, codenamed “NX011AP” and “NR011AP”.
The designation follows Kawasaki’s usual pattern, with “X” in the second bullet point used to designate a sports bike and “R” for a naked roadster, but the initial “N” is new and stands for “Electric” in the Kawasaki naming protocol. The document, which was quickly updated to remove mention of the new models, showed they each produced 11 kW (15.2 hp), showing that they will be legal in Europe.
That means we can expect two mechanically identical bikes, along the lines of models like the Z125 and Ninja 125, but electric. The model names are not yet known, but Kawasaki had previously registered the Ninja E2 and Ninja E2-R titles.