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[Richard230]

Kawasaki is in the process of developing a hydrogen-powered motorcycle. So far they have given it a tail section that holds the H2 fuel tanks that only its mother could love. I think I will stick to electric as a Zero-emission motorcycle. But I give Kawasaki credit for trying a different type of gas bike:  https://www.motorcycle.com/bikes/news/kawasaki-hydrogen-prototype-makes-public-debut-44605393

[TheRan]

A perfect representation of why hydrogen is a bad idea for motorcycles. Similarly to hybrids, there's just not enough space for it. Electric motorcycles can get away with small batteries because you can charge them at so many places include home and work, you can't do that with hydrogen. For example here in the UK there's like 4-7 refuelling stations which means that depending on the range of the vehicle there are parts of the country where it would be literally unusable. I'd be interested to know how much range they're actually getting from that bike, I would assume that because they're trying to make it look good it's probably quite low to keep the tanks as small as possible.

[princec]

Imagine what would happen if it flew off a bend and cartwheeled into a tree at 120mph... quite a spectacular explosion I would think

It is a daft idea of course. Not sure why they have pursued it with the full scientific knowledge of the efficiency (or lack thereof) of the hydrogen energy lifecycle... makes no sense at all. Even synthetic hydrocarbons make loads more sense, and they're not that sensible to begin with.

Cas

[TheRan]

I imagine it's more of a politics, brand image, investors thing rather than creating a decent viable product. Kawasaki are dipping their toes into all the alternative energy options, electric, hybrid, and now this crap, but their electric and hybrid models are half-arsed and not selling. They're more than capable of making a competitive electric bike (and consequently a better, but still dumb, hybrid) but for some reason they don't.

[princec]

Their pure BEV A1 offering seems "ok". I wonder at the execs at these companies going, "hm look at Zero, how do they do it?" and then, I dunno, just staring off into space or something and thinking about what to have for lunch. How are these fools employed?

Cas

[Stonewolf]

Their pure BEV A1 offering seems "ok". I wonder at the execs at these companies going, "hm look at Zero, how do they do it?" and then, I dunno, just staring off into space or something and thinking about what to have for lunch. How are these fools employed?

Cas

Listen, we made a bike and nobody bought it, clearly EVs are bad.

[princec]

Bit like BMW and their CE-04 and 02, cleverly pricing them at exactly twice what the market is prepared to pay for them, and then claiming that there isn't a market for BEV motorcycles...

Cas

[Stonewolf]

In BMWs case I'm far more willing to believe they're using them to gain experience on BEV bikes while they wait for solid state. I do actually know someone who owns and loves a CE04

[Specter]

Yahh ahhm..    NO ~~ !!!

You are not just going to pull up and plug in your cutsie little refill hose and fill it like a scuba tank.
Hydrogen is so stupidly, obnoxiously, insanely explosive, that's just asking for a problem!
You'll need to ground the shit out of the bike to fill it, ground it to the pumping station, the people pumping the gas, NO YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO unless you are specifically trained to work with the stuff!

The absolute tiniest leak WILL combust.  That was one of the main ways we'd find hydrogen leaks at the power plant, is look for darkened paint, from the flames burning it around the leak area, you can't see them unless it's very dark out at night as they are almost invisible.  Even at 15 psi, a pinhole leak, it WILL autocombust on contact with the air pretty much, the friction of pissing out that tiny little hole is enough to ignite it.

Let me hold a cigarette lighter up to your leathers, sooner or later they WILL catch on fire, probably sooner rather than later you WILL feel the heat of that fire!  Now lets go on the road with squidward and his hydro gixxer, in his gixxy uniform, complete with wife beater t shirt and flip flops,and see how long before he feels that pinhole leak/flame.

So now, it's a long day, you forgot to turn the main valve off, hydrogen is slowly leaking out of your bike and heading straight for the roof of your garage and gathering up there, waiting for the slightest spark or friction to set it off.  A light switch, your garage door spring rubbing.  All it takes is 10 percent of it in air to go boom.  All it takes is 8 to 10 percent of air in pure H2 to go boom!

How much is that hydrgen going to cost?  a LOT! and people bitch about the price of E bikes?  oh and unlike E bikes I don't see you charging at home either.  Bringing a 50 CuFt tank of it home to huff into your bike would be pretty suicidal IMO.

I don't think it's going to be very viable for a long long while.   
Aaron

[Stonewolf]

You know something fantasticly petty that I hate about H2?

When they show it burning blue in visualisations.

[flynnstig82r]

Their pure BEV A1 offering seems "ok". I wonder at the execs at these companies going, "hm look at Zero, how do they do it?" and then, I dunno, just staring off into space or something and thinking about what to have for lunch. How are these fools employed?

Cas

Listen, we made a bike and nobody bought it, clearly EVs are bad.

That’s going to be the result, and I fear that other OEMs will draw that same conclusion for both hybrid and electric motorbikes. Just imagine if Kawi had made a hybrid ZX-14R successor instead of the Ninja 7, with an eye to set new records for both 0-60 and literbike MPG and you can still creep around your cul-de-sac in the early hours without a sound. It might have been expensive, but everyone would have been talking about it.

[Stonewolf]

Their pure BEV A1 offering seems "ok". I wonder at the execs at these companies going, "hm look at Zero, how do they do it?" and then, I dunno, just staring off into space or something and thinking about what to have for lunch. How are these fools employed?

Cas

Listen, we made a bike and nobody bought it, clearly EVs are bad.

That’s going to be the result, and I fear that other OEMs will draw that same conclusion for both hybrid and electric motorbikes. Just imagine if Kawi had made a hybrid ZX-14R successor instead of the Ninja 7, with an eye to set new records for both 0-60 and literbike MPG and you can still creep around your cul-de-sac in the early hours without a sound. It might have been expensive, but everyone would have been talking about it.

IIRC 0-60 times are limited more by tyres than anything else these days, there's only so much you can do with street legal rubber and even race tyres only get you so far beyond that.

[princec]

Yup, at the point you are both spinning the tyre and doing a wheely, that's it. That's the fastest you can go forward on the geometry you've got.

I'd love a CE-04. I notice that 2nd hand they are almost exactly half the price of new - their exact real value IMO. If I didn't already have the SR/F I'd be sorely tempted though I have to be realistic and say the SR/F is ultimately more useful in more scenarios.

Cas

[flynnstig82r]

The reason I said that is that the Ninja 7 has an unusually long wheelbase, which should make a big boy version quicker in a straight line with a given level of tire technology.

[CagivaRider]

The Japanese government is pushing H2 as their zero emissions fuel. That is why Toyota and Kawasaki are rolling out H2 vehicles. The government is funding all phases of H2 from production to distribution. I agree that it's a scary fuel to be working with.