Photo: Harley-Davidson
With only a range of only 50 miles (80 km) or so Harley-Davidson can currently squeeze out of its LiveWire electric cruiser, it may be that those eyeing getting one still have to wait.
Since it was launched in a working prototype shape, the LiveWire toured North America and Europe and was ridden by around 6,800 people in dedicated test events. The goal of such a massive endeavor is to gather as much data as possible from the riders themselves.
If anything, this tells us that the MoCo is considering delivering an electric two-wheeler in the future, but this future is not to be judged in terms of one or two years, but rather two or three at best.
On the other hand, this introduces the inertia factor meaning that Harley can't or won't make too many changes to the bike, at least not in this stage. They might be waiting for a new generation of power packs or motors that fit in the LiveWire package and deliver more performance.
It's rather hard to picture Harley setting out on an e-bike-development spree, so we'd put our money on the waiting game. And they can hope that Victory doesn't get too far ahead until the first electric Harley rolls from a customer's driveway.
Unlike H-D, Victory has already started dissecting the Brammo machines they got and already implemented upgrades that will be tested in the Zero TT in the Isle of Man really soon.
As to what will pay off more in the e-bike game, time will tell whether it's going to be inertia and a conservative approach or the wild development. Just for the sake of truth, we put our money on the latter...
If anything, this tells us that the MoCo is considering delivering an electric two-wheeler in the future, but this future is not to be judged in terms of one or two years, but rather two or three at best.
Ready to roll, yet not quite
To us, seeing Harley putting some 35 LiveWire machines on the streets in private demo events tells at least two things. That the bike is very close to a potential production phase. Nothing was changed since it surfaced, or at least nothing we could see. This means that the platform is, more or less, ready to roll.On the other hand, this introduces the inertia factor meaning that Harley can't or won't make too many changes to the bike, at least not in this stage. They might be waiting for a new generation of power packs or motors that fit in the LiveWire package and deliver more performance.
It's rather hard to picture Harley setting out on an e-bike-development spree, so we'd put our money on the waiting game. And they can hope that Victory doesn't get too far ahead until the first electric Harley rolls from a customer's driveway.
Unlike H-D, Victory has already started dissecting the Brammo machines they got and already implemented upgrades that will be tested in the Zero TT in the Isle of Man really soon.
As to what will pay off more in the e-bike game, time will tell whether it's going to be inertia and a conservative approach or the wild development. Just for the sake of truth, we put our money on the latter...
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