When we first saw the idea of Kawasaki hydrogen bikes, we didn’t think we would see it in action in such a short time frame. Something we were able to do less than two months ago, when the Kawasaki Ninja H2 SX Hydrogen made its debut at Suzuka with a few laps of honour prior to the Suzuka 8 Hours race.
What was striking, and what was expected from the prototypes, was that the model was very bulky. Beyond the fact that some areas were bulging for aesthetic reasons, the most striking were the rear cases where the hydrogen cylinders were located.
In fact, that is the great challenge that Kawasaki has right now with its hydrogen motorcycles, once it has demonstrated that it is conceptually viable. That is precisely the point at which the brand’s engineers are currently at work, as we have been able to learn from the new patents that have been leaked.
The new application submitted seeks to solve the problems of volume that we were talking about in order to achieve a motorcycle with more contained dimensions and, in addition, with the capacity to load people or objects in the case that it is applied to motorcycles that are not sports.
As we can see in the diagrams, the front reminds us of a Kawasaki ZX-6R from the end of the first decade of the century, but it is just that, a diagram. The important thing in this patent for Kawasaki hydrogen motorcycles is how the position of the engine is varied, moving it to the lower and rear part of the chassis to leave the greatest possible space for two hydrogen cylinders. To achieve this much-needed space, what they do is make the pistons point forward instead of upwards.
There are more than just hydrogen motorcycles, they have also patented a scooter and a trike
But there is more, and in these patents Kawasaki shows more than just how its hydrogen motorcycles would evolve, but also shows a hydrogen scooter and a trike. In the case of the scooter, the placement of the cylinders would be on the shield with the engine located in a more common way than we are used to. Even so, and seeing the limitations that hydrogen motorcycles currently have in terms of autonomy, a scooter that is supposed to have shorter movements would fit perfectly.
If we talk about the trike, a big surprise, because the Japanese have not had one in their range, the space where the tanks would be located would be right between the two front wheels, in a space that we could consider unused because the engine would have its usual placement. Even so, in this case the most striking thing is that the trike does not have handlebars as we might expect, but rather has a steering wheel on the license plate.
For now, we have to continue waiting to see how hydrogen motorcycles in general and Kawasaki’s in particular progress. There are many other ways to take advantage of hydrogen and the hydrogen fuel cell that feeds an electric motor is one of them. However, this technology is more expensive and complex, as well as requiring purer hydrogen to operate, so this Kawasaki alternative seems to be the least complex of all and the one we could see evolve in the shortest period of time.
