Electric Kawasaki Ninja & Z e-1
Disclaimer: I learned that these machines exist because I was doing a design feasibility study and researching batteries, battery connectors and swappable battery technology in general.
I never owned a Kawasaki motorcycle before and only driven an ER-6f aka Ninja 650R once or twice. So I don't personally share this feeling of rage that the company dared to name a Ninja something that has performance and range of a scooter for the price of a mid-high end bike (moreless).
And because I am late to the party, the price already had dropped like almost 50% and a Z e-1 is currently the cheapest bike in the Kawasaki's line-up.
Most notes apply to both NR011ARFNN (Z e-1) and NX011ARFNN (Ninja e-1) models.
The Good: Ninja 400 / Z400 heritage
So, it's supposed to be an electric 125cc class equivalent bike that happen to come in a 400cc class chasis. The brakes seem to come from a little smaller Ninja/Z 300/125: 290mm front rotors and 220mm rear. Factory-fitted are the "non-petal", "ordinary round" style rotors. Tires seem to come from a Ninja/Z 125: 100/80-17 front and 130/70-17 rear. Worth noting is fitment of ABS for both front and rear wheel as standard.
The handling and suspension are great, riding with a passenger is possible. Breaking power is good, braking precision is good. The front brake lever is not adjustable.
On the road, people treat this machine seriously.
I expect many accesories designed for the popular 400 series will just work.
The Givi / Kappa baggage rack designed for Ninja/Z 400 (4129FZ / KZ4129) fits the Z e-1. If you have and want to keep the rear charging port, you need to be prepared for some cutting / grinding.
The Bad: Top speed
The 300-400cc gas bikes can reach speeds of something like 170-190km/h. The 125cc gas Kawasaki will do a sustained 100km/h or a little more until it runs out of fuel.
The e-1 has a maximum (momentary) speed of 99km/h for up to 15 seconds with a so-called eBoost mode. Sustained top speed is claimed to be 85km/h. I don't think it is even that much.
Riding around a metropolitan area on roads with up to 80km/h speed limit is OK, the eBoost mode will last for a surprisingly long time if you don't do full throttle. You need to manage and conserve power though, especially if there are some hills you need to conquer. ;)
Initial acceleration is good, get's worse the faster you go.
The Ugly: Range
Tests to be found indicate that the practical range of the bike is somewhere around 40-50km on a single charge (manufacturer's claim: 72km).
I typically get a little more than 30km of full performance and an additional 10km of the "turtle ride" (no eBoost). Beyond that the bike is basically useless or even unsafe to drive. Benchmarked it once and didn't make it to 50km.
You need to top up the battery to get the most of the "good" range and the last 10% of charging seem to take forever. The practical usable capacity of the batteries (both!) is only about 1.5kWh and I was able to squeeze about 2.5kWh when charging from completely flat.
There is no CCS charging port but you can take the battery packs out (there are two of them, ~11kg each) and charge them at home. They are very easy to carry.