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Rich Rebuilds Will Turn a Harley-Davidson into an Electric Machine – It's Not a LiveWire

Harley-Davidson motorcycles are famous for leaking oil and overheating. This is one benefit the LiveWire and future electric options may represent to the brand: they will certainly be more reliable than current models with a V2 engine. The issue is that LiveWires are pretty expensive. Rich Benoit decided to tackle the two problems to create his own electric Harley-Davidson.
Rich Rebuilds will make an affordable electric Harley-Davidson, making it instantly more reliable as well 7 photos
Photo: Rich Rebuilds
Rich Rebuilds will make an affordable electric Harley-Davidson, making it instantly more reliable as wellRich Rebuilds will make an affordable electric Harley-Davidson, making it instantly more reliable as wellRich Rebuilds will make an affordable electric Harley-Davidson, making it instantly more reliable as wellRich Rebuilds will make an affordable electric Harley-Davidson, making it instantly more reliable as wellRich Rebuilds will make an affordable electric Harley-Davidson, making it instantly more reliable as wellRich Rebuilds will make an affordable electric Harley-Davidson, making it instantly more reliable as well
The donor bike was jokingly obtained by Leenda, Benoit’s assistant. In the first video of the series, she breaks up with a boyfriend, and all that is left from that relationship is the unidentified Harley-Davidson model. We suspect it was either bought by Benoit or donated by Golden Motor, the company that sells both the motor and the converter.

The YouTuber decided to get an HPM 20 kW Liquid Cooled BLDC Motor. It costs $2,538.99 on the Golden Motor website. Although 20 kW is just 26.8 hp, it can have peaks of 50 kW (67 hp). The rated torque is 80 Nm (59 pound-feet), with 160 Nm (1118 lb-ft) of peak torque. Regarding the converter, the project uses an HPC 700 Series High Powered Controller, which is the one that mates Golden Motor’s 20-kW motors.

As usual, what impresses us about Benoit and Steven Salowsky’s conversion work is not only the technical knowledge to make the electronics work as they should. These guys also know how to cut metal parts and weld them in a competent way. In their latest video (the first one you see below), the Harley-Davidson received a metal structure that looks like a Ducati “rib cage.” It will protect the four battery packs that the new electric bike will have.

Each of these packs delivers 72V and 100A. Although Golden Motor also sells battery packs (composed of LFP or ternary lithium-ion cells), Benoit bought these D034 components from Unit Pack Power, a Chinese supplier from Shenzhen. We thought each of them delivered 18V, but the supplier does not sell them in this specification, only in 12V, 24V, 36V, 48V, 52V, 60V, and 72V. That means they will not be installed in series.

It is still a work in progress, but we are curious to see what this affordable and reliable electric Harley-Davidson will end up being. We’ll tell you more about it as this new Rich Rebuilds project advances.

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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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