News that Kawasaki is thinking of building a hybrid motorcycle has sent our adventurous hearts aflutter. While some street bike oriented outlets dismissed the freshly-minted patent for a future combustion + electric powered bike as a non-starter on the cusp of the electric revolution, we can only think of all the bonus horizons to be scored.

The motivation behind the new patent goes back a few years, with Kawasaki originally filing with Japan’s patent office in 2017. It calls for rights to a motorcycle with a traditional gas engine and also an electric motor. In the drawings it appears the system would be “parallel,” with both the engine and e-motor delivering power to the rear wheel. There are other descriptions as well, including an e-optimized setup where the fuel-burning engine would be a back up.

The patent also shows what Kawasaki believes is the most compact way to cram all the extra components into a bike. Two variations are proposed with the battery located where the fuel tank would normally reside and the tank placed either to the side of the battery or next to the seat. The electric motor is further located above the transmission.

The notion of a hybrid bike is nothing new. In the past manufacturers have explored the option as a means to boost performance in sport bikes and, in the case of a Honda Gold Wing concept bike we saw in 2015, to extend touring range. But so far, the technology hasn’t successfully transitioned into a production model.

But with the ADV party in full swing and all the manufacturers looking to cash in on our enthusiasm, one has to wonder if Kawasaki’s revived interest in hybrid bike technology isn’t focused on a future Adventure Touring model.

Hybrid cars have been the hippie uncle in the North American automobile scene since the arrival of the Toyota Prius in 2000. Immediately typecast as crunchy, boring and unreliable (remember the unfounded buzz about expensive battery failure?), when in truth, hybrid cars are quite swift little technological wonders that do only a little to save the planet. They do however save their owners tons of dough in fuel as well as maintenance costs thanks to CVT transmissions and regenerative braking systems that require fewer pad changes.

Adventure riders already know how difficult it can be to refuel in remote locations. It’s doable if you carry and/or meticulously plan your stops. And while electric tech is undoubtedly the future of transportation, the idea of a full-on electric ADV bike – at least in our lifetimes – sounds a bit silly. Pretty tough to imagine a charging station out there on your favorite trail, much less in the outback of a developing country.

But a hybrid can be the best of both worlds. If the technology were to be car-like, the fuel engine and regenerative braking system could produce energy for the electric motor and the e-motor could assist or take over at low rpm to save fuel.

Of course we have no idea what the publishing of this new patent might mean for the future of motorcycling, if anything at all. The sketches are very basic, showing several variations of battery and e-motor placement in relation to a single cylinder gasoline engine. For these drawings to result in a production bike is tall order in any scenario due to inherent space limitations and weight concerns.

But if Kawasaki did use this technology to develop a hybrid Adventure Tourer, would you be interested in owning one? In a world soon to be 100-percent e-driven one does wonder what future ADV bikes will look like. If not a hybrid then maybe a voltaic system where the sun could power our two-wheeled adventures. Now wouldn’t that be a novel reason to chase those sunsets over the horizon.

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.