It’s been a long time coming. A very long time. In fact, almost 25 years. That’s the time between the introduction of Toyota’s famous Prius in 2000; and the first full-sized production hybrid motorcycle. Blame motorcycling’s (sometimes blinding) emphasis on performance. Or its technological conservatism. Most likely, it’s simply a case of packaging, it being much more difficult to incorporate two powertrains — gas and electric — into the tight confines of a motorcycle than in the relative expanse of an automobile, even one as comparatively compact as a Prius. Whatever the case, I finally swung my leg over a two-wheeler that will now hopefully lead a charge into the future.
Like the original Prius, while the total is greater than the sum of the parts, the individual components that make up a Ninja 7 Hybrid are not auspicious. The gas-fed part of the equation, for instance, is a little 451-cc parallel-twin liberated from the lowly — at least for something wearing such a sporting fairing — Eliminator cruiser. Oh, it’s been pumped up a bit with modified intake and exhaust systems for more top-end power, but it’s still only good for 58 horsepower at 10,500 rpm. Peak torque is a likewise measly 32 pound-feet at 7,500 rpm. Neither number is exactly fire-breathing.
The electric motor is not all that much more inspiring. In fact, it boasts but seven kilowatts. That’s just 9.4 horsepower. Oh, there’s 9 kw available for short bursts, but that’s still only about 12 horses, again not hardly ZX-10R intimidating.
Ninja 7 Hybrid is all about the packaging
More impressive is how all the kit comes together. For instance, to maintain the tight centre of mass so crucial to a sport-bike’s handling, the electric motor is mounted right behind the cylinders. Imagine the area that traditionally would hold a set of carburetors; this being the most modern of motorcycles, it is now filled with a liquid-cooled, permanent-magnet electric motor.
And right behind it, cleverly stuffed between the rear frame rails of the trellis frame, is the 50.4-volt 1.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery — about the same size as on hybrid cars — again maintaining the Ninja’s slim proportions while retaining that tight centre of mass I mentioned. This first-of-its-kind Kawi has some compromises — more on them in a moment — but innovative packaging isn’t one of them.
The vast majority of automotive hybrids — certainly the vast majority of Toyotas, which make up the vast majority of four-wheeled self-propelled hybrids — use a CVT-like transmission, their main qualification being that they keep the gas engine in their sweet spot of thermal efficiency.
The Kawasaki, on the other hand, uses a six-speed manual tranny. Oh, it’s automated, but, otherwise, it’s as traditional as transmissions get. Unlike, say, Honda’s Africa Twin, it isn’t a modern dual-clutch affair. In fact, it doesn’t have a shift lever at all, the only way you can change gears being two paddles on the left handlebar laid out in pretty much in the exact same orientation as the aforementioned Honda. Think of it as a regular quick-shifter-equipped manual, only with Honda-like push-button gear selection. An odd choice to be sure, and one of the few tech limitations of this, Kawasaki’s first hybrid.
Experiencing modal moments on this ’24 Kawasaki
This being a modern motorcycle — and a hybrid, no less — there are plenty of riding modes, most of them, as you would suspect, devoted to emissions reduction and fuel economy maximization.
Naturally, there’s ECO mode, which as the name applies, uses both gas and electric power to maximize efficiency. Not only does it limit power output, but that electrified manual transmission only works in Automatic mode and, as one might expect for a calibration whose very name boasts its ecological intent, it short-shifts early. Quite early, in fact.
There’s also a SPORT mode which, again as the name implies, emphasizes performance over fuel-sipping. In essence, the difference is that in Auto mode, the software lets the engine rev out harder. It also has the Ninja 7’s only manual mode, meaning you can choose — though it is, of course, anti-ethical to that mission of emission reduction — to scream the little twin to its 11,000-rpm red-line while push-button shifting.
Then there’s EV mode, which, no surprise, bypasses the gas engine completely, and works with the electric traction motor alone. Again, unlike automotive hybrids — and even EVs — the Kawasaki runs even the electric powertrain though the gearbox, though it’s limited, when working all on its lonesome, to the first four gears. Fifth and sixth are not available in electric-only operation, which means the Ninja 7 is limited to 65 kilometres an hour (40 mph). That’s actually not that bad, since most automotive hybrids — of the non-plug-in variety — barely manage to exceed 30 km/h (19 mph). Kudos to Kawasaki.
There are two more “temporary” modes. WALK is a low-speed electric function to be used when parking the bike. Twist the throttle and it’ll creep along at about three km/h on the electric motor as quiet as can be. And, since reversing direction in an electric motor is as simply as switching polarity, the electric will also “walk” the Ninja 7 backwards simply by twisting the throttle in the other direction. Again, very nifty Kawasaki!
There’s also something call “e-Boost” which essentially unleashes the electric motor’s full 9 kW for up to five seconds. It doesn’t sound like much, but it takes the 7’s total output to 68 hp and 44.6 pound-feet of torque. It’s that last that’s important, because in e-Boost mode, there’s definitely—
More power than you think
Kawasaki contends that all that electric-motor torque makes it feel like a 1,000-cc superbike off the line. At least for the first few seconds. It’s a dramatic boast. But, let’s be clear. The Ninja 7 is not a ZX-10R. Not off the line. Not through the gears. Not ever. As marketing exaggerations go, this one is a classic.
That said, the Ninja 7 can be surprisingly quick. Oh, take off from a standstill in SPORT mode and it feels, well, 450-cc lethargic. For some reason, Kawasaki decided not to use the electric motor — and its gobs of zero-rpm torque — to help launch the bike in what is, after all, its highest-performance mode.
However, SPORT, as I said, does offer you that e-Boost selection. Toggle a little switch — within easy thumb-reach of your right hand — and the little Ninja 7 really does take off like a scalded cat. Not a 1,000-cc feline on fire, mind you, but perhaps a 750-cc parallel-twin. It’s impressive, if not quite as outlandish as the company’s marketing bumpf.
Like the original Prius, while the total is greater than the sum of the parts, the individual components that make up a Ninja 7 Hybrid are not auspicious
More impressive still is that, unlike automotive hybrids, which run out of electric boost the faster they go, Kawasaki’s motorcycle hybrid system keeps that five-second punch all the way to its top speed. No doubt the result of the fact that the electric motor, too, works through the six-speed tranny — which keeps the electric motor in the sweet spot of its powerband — the Ninja 7 quite impresses even at top speed.
I, for example, ran out of points on my driver’s license — somewhere near, I’d say, 180 kilometres an hour (112 mph) — before the little Kawi ran out of power. There might have another 10 klicks in it. Maybe even 15. In other words, the difference between regular SPORT mode and SPORT plus e-Boost is quite noticeable, even at high speed. For those looking for more context: with both gas and electric motors fully engaged, the little Hybrid feels more like a Ninja 650 than something powered by a little Eliminator engine.
Even more impressive is using e-Boost’s additive powers at low rpm. Say you’re bumping along in fourth gear at 3,000 rpm, when the little 451-cc twin is hardly producing torque. You could downshift two gears to get the revs up, but that would take time and, as I’ll discuss in just a minute, be rather clunky. On the other hand, it’d be a lot easier — not to mention smoother — to simply toggle the e-Boost to access some electric motor torque. In those circumstances, that electrified boost makes the whole powertrain feel as powerful as perhaps an 800-cc twin. Again, very impressive!
Assessing Ninja 7 Hybrid fuel economy
The flip side of the coin is that, in ECO mode, the Ninja 7 averages about 4 L/100 kilometres. That seems impressive, but does require some context. By motorcycle standards — especially with its 650- or 750-cc-like performance — that’s fairly efficient. On the other, a tenderly-driven Prius can manage about the same fuel economy. So, congrats to Kawasaki for making the Ninja Hybrid so frugal. But, to be truly revolutionary, electrification is going to have to pay a lot bigger dividends.
Indeed, one of the prime indicators that motorcycle hybridization is still in its infancy is that the Ninja 7, in pure electric EV mode, averaged about 15.5 kWh/100 km. That’s about the same, again, as a tenderly-driven mid-sized BEV such as Hyundai’s Ioniq 5. Again, kudos to Kawasaki, but there’s still lots of work to do, especially in energy regeneration. Like automotive hybrids, when you let off the gas, the electric motor switches polarity and feeds some juice back into the battery. However, unlike electrified cars, there is no brake regeneration, which means there’s been a significant amount of efficiency left on the table.
’24 Ninja 7 Hybrid’s transmission is not so brilliant
Not all’s perfect in Kawasaki Land. The Ninja 7’s major failing is its six-speed transmission. While it makes such efficient use of e-Boost torque, and the gear ratios are very well chosen, its shifting of gears is not. To put it mildly, charging gears can be abrupt. In SPORT mode, it’s just plain clunky, especially when up-shifting from first to second. Even down-shifting is a long way from the buttery-smooth shifting we’ve come to expect from Kawasaki. You can feel every bit of the mechanical actuation; the gears meshing, the cogs coming together, etc. Not good.
Perhaps because of the traction motor’s even more abundant torque, it’s worse in EV mode. Indeed, I had a few wobbly moments when the tranny shifted from first to second under electrical power. At least twice, this happened as I was negotiating a slow-speed corner, and it shook the whole motorcycle. A noticeable inconvenience to a mature motorcyclist, I suspect that a newbie — which something as novel as the Hybrid 7 might attract — would find this foible a little more dangerous.
If Kawasaki is seriously about developing hybrids — and maintaining that manual transmission connection — it’s going to have to design a Honda-like dual-clutch manumatic for a more buttery-smooth transition between gears.
How Kawasaki’s added some unnecessary complication
Less annoying — but still problematic — is that switching between modes can be complicated. For instance, press the SPORT mode for a few seconds and you get the manually-shifted version of the six-speed. Except that, if you come to a stop, it’ll stay in whatever gear you last used instead of, like automobile versions, heading back to first in anticipation of the next green light, leaving you taking off in fourth with a 450-cc twin. The solution is to hold SPORT down longer — the tranny will then return automatically to first at a stop — but it can be finicky to actuate.
To switch from SPORT to EV mode, I had to come to a complete stop. Kawasaki says I should be able to do it below 25 km/h (15 mph), but that little bit failed me. Equally wonky is that to start EV mode, I had to get the gas engine going. And, to operate that novel WALK mode — which is, again, purely electrically-powered — I had to engage first gear. Yes, even to use reverse.
Since this is all computer-controlled, why didn’t the engineers have WALK automatically engage first gear? It seems an oversight to me. Indeed, the entire mode-selection system, while mostly logical and intuitive — it’s all button-operated, rather than via some wonky touchscreen — needs more refinement.
Those complaints aside, the little Kawi is a welcome addition to the motorcycle industry. Despite the headlines trumpeting the electric-vehicle revolution, battery-powered motorcycles have, so far, been a dismal failure. Oh, electric scooters are doing well, and there are some novel advancements in electrified motocrossers. But the market for electrically-powered, full-sized motorcycle — the equivalent of, say, 600-cc or more — is barely 5,000 units. That’s not the number of battery-powered big bikes sold in Canada. That’s for the entire world. Nor is that a monthly figure. That’s annual global sales.
Unlike their four-wheeled equivalents, the electric revolution is passing motorcycling by. In other words, if the bike industry is going to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions, it’s going to need to look beyond battery power. That makes further development of alternatives like the Ninja 7 absolutely essential, as does getting its price — $15,699 — in line. Automotive hybrids can trade on their total cost of ownership — their heftier MSRP offset by significant annual fuel savings — but motorcycles are typically not driven far enough to make that a significant advantage.
Nonetheless, let’s hope Kawasaki builds on this progress. Maybe next time, it might marry battery and traction motor to the 649-cc twin from the Ninja 650, instead of this little 451-cc tiddler. Oh, and package it up as an adventure-touring Versys rather than a slower-selling and niche-market Ninja. A Versys 650 that performs like, says, a 900-cc ADV; sipped fuel like, say, a 500; and was married to a slick-shifting DCT might be the mainstream motorcycle that Kawasaki — hell, the entire industry — is looking for in its search for CO2 reduction. I’d certainly take a long, hard look at one.
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