These patents show how Kawasaki wants to make its future electric bikes cheaper: riding them at the dealership

2023 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 02:44

We already knew enough details about the Kawasaki Endeavor, which will be the first motorcycle with an electric propulsion system from the manufacturer, but now the registration of new patents indicates that the Japanese are thinking of revolutionizing or rather reorganize production tasks.

This would suppose the offshoring from a single strategic point where all these processes took place to have three or more places in terms of component manufacturing and frame assembly.

Kawasaki could take the Endeavor assembly process to the dealership itself

It is true that from the last Milan salon Akashi's men keep sending us small previews about the work they are doing with what is their premiere in the field of 100% electric motorcycles, with the Kawasaki Endeavor as the protagonist.

To a large extent it has been done by publishing several short videos in which we can see this 'zero emissions' machine rolling on a circuit, hear how it sounds and even discover interesting details such as that it will have a four speed gearbox, one of them to move in reverse.

But no release date has been given of the electric motorcycle, which could be due to a delay caused by the global pandemic. Of course, in Japan they continue to work and mull over everything that surrounds the Endeavor, as evidenced by the patents that have come to light and which VisorDown has echoed.

And it is that kawasaki sketches show what it might mean that they are considering manufacturing the battery and other components in one plant, the motor in another, and then shipping it to a different location to carry out the assembly process.

In fact, this last location could be the point of sale itself, that is, the dealer. Although it is something that is yet to be confirmed, it could be a important strategy when it comes to cutting costs in shipments, specialize the workers of each plant in a specific process and continue developing the chassis, brakes, wheels, electronics and other elements shared with conventional motorcycles in the same assembly lines in which it has been carried out in recent years.