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Harley-Davidson LiveWire Drag Races at NHRA U.S. Nationals, Who Was Impressed?

There’s only one mainstream bike maker with an electric motorcycle on the market: Harley-Davidson. The Americans launched the LiveWire last year, hit a few snags along the way, and now the entire thing looks like a lost bet.
Harley-Davidson LiveWire at the NHRA U.S. Nationals 44 photos
Photo: Harley-Davidson
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Maybe it’s the fact that the world is not yet ready for electric motorcycles – we lost track of how many startups came and went while promising a revolution in the industry – or it could be that Harley really messed up the LiveWire, but the reality is riders do not really flock to dealers to order one.

Truth be told, the bike maker itself didn’t make a big fuss about the electric two-wheeler, and kind of left it fending for itself because, well, it really has no competition.

That approach is about to change as of this month. Harley is finally putting some big names and some more dollars behind promoting the bike, in the hopes its fortunes would change.

Starting September 18, people with an Apple TV+ subscription will have the chance to see what the LiveWire is really capable of. After all, it did travel over 13,000 miles (21,000 km) from the city of Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego to America’s West Coast, ridden by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as they were shooting their Long Way Up show.

And also from September, expect to see it more on the drag strip, just like it happened this past weekend in Indianapolis, where the NHRA U.S. Nationals took place.

Three Harley riders - Andrew Hines, Eddie Krawiec, and Angelle Sampey - enjoyed themselves between races by taking the LiveWire down the strip in exhibition runs, trying to convince people an investment in the LiveWire would not be a bad idea.

Don’t expect anything spectacular to have happened. There’s a short video below this text with the highlights of the Harley runs, but don’t look forward to records being broken or the crowds going wild with excitement.

UPDATE Sept. 11: It seems like records were set after all, as Harley-Davidson released info on all-new records for elapsed time and top speed by an electric-powered production motorcycle.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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