Kawasaki’s Hydrogen-Powered Ninja Makes Pubic Debut

Kawasaki has taken a big step towards making its motorcycles greener.

This past December, the Japanese motorcycle maker unveiled a hydrogen-powered prototype called the Ninja H2 Hyse, according to New Atlas. Now, a little more than a half-year later, the company has finally shown off what the two-wheeler can do in public.

Electric motorcycles have become more commonplace in recent years, but they’re further from replacing their gas-powered counterparts than their four-wheel cousins are. A battery-powered bike may not produce any emissions—something we can all agree is a good thing—but they struggle to recreate the visceral thrill of riding an ICE two-wheeler, offer less riding range, and take longer to fill (or charge) up. With the Ninja H2 Hyse, Kawasaki is trying to engineer something that bridges the gap between gas and electric, that will do less harm to the environment without changing the motorcycle riding experience too much.

The company has been working on the Ninja H2 Hyse since last spring. It utilizes a modified version of the supercharged 998cc inline-four used by the standard Ninja H2 fed by a specially designed fuel system that includes two giant hydrogen canisters (project leader Satoaki Ichi, has likened the vehicle to a “humidifier on wheels”).  In December, the company finally shared the first images of the prototype online. They weren’t anything to write home about—the hydrogen tanks add an awful lot of bulk to the bike’s silhouette—but they were accompanied by the announcement that testing would begin earlier this year.

Now, seven months later, Kawasaki is ready for the people to see the bike in action. The Ninja H2 Hyse made its first public appearance at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan’s Mie prefecture this past weekend. The run offered proof that a motorcycle running on hydrogen can work, producing the roar that people expect from a motorcycle without all the emissions.

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The Ninja H2 Hyse is significantly cleaner than an ICE bike, but it’s not as clean as an EV just yet. Kawasaki claims the bike’s only emission is water, but a small amount of oil is burned producing what is said to be a negligible amount of carbon dioxide, according to Top Speed. There is time to work those issues out, though. Kawasaki has yet to announce when and if its latest motorcycle will make it to market, though it has said it wants to produce a hydrogen-powered bike eventually.