Secret’s OUT: Kawasaki’s braking regeneration patent for it’s future range of bikes REVEALED

Here’s the next phase of Kawasaki’s electric-engine programme – a complex motorcycle braking-regeneration electrical feed system that the factory has just patented.

It is a set up that will be applied to all of the firm’s electric-powered vehicles coming in the near future.

The idea has now been patented for the first time in a motorcycle-specific document by the huge company. Not only does the application for patent explain the routing for the system’s recoup of power every time the front brake is applied, but also features a side-on illustration of a motorcycle crammed with an electric motor and batteries.

There’s even a drawing showing the regen meter on the electronic dash (item 54 and 55 on the diagram, below) and a thumb brake on the left hand handlebar, the thumb brake will also be linked to the regen system. The plus and minus on the left handlebar grip is to dial in the amount of power fed to the electric motor as required.

We’ve no idea when this tech is likely to hit the bikes we can buy (a fair guess for this sort of timescale once we see the patents is two years) but what this does show is that Kawasaki is serious about being the first to use regenerative braking-fed power back into it’s upcoming electric bike’s batteries, seriously lengthening the amount of use which can be drawn from the no-petrol system.

Previously, MoreBikes brought you the world’s first look at the exceptional Wunderlich-made BMW R1200GS LC – that is a standard GS fitted with a very neat 7.6-kilowatt motor that independently drives the front wheel and uses regen brake technology to feed power back into the system’s batteries. Pictures of the wires that feed the electric-motor front hub and the switch and dial mounted to the top of the petrol tank cover are posted below.

This tech is now out on the open market and if Kawasaki was to use something along those lines then there’s little reason why this system (like Wunderlich, as an additional unit for existing motorcycles in the range, or those coming in 2017) couldn’t be used almost straight away.

We’ll let you know more information about this patent’s development as and when we get it.