The first electric offering is the company's Livewire bike,
which debuted as a prototype in 2014. Riders around the world were allowed to
test drive the concept and their feedback were used to design the real deal.
New Harley-Davidson LiveWire
Full details regarding the production-version aren't
available yet. What's known, however, is it will be built at Harley-Davidson's
manufacturing facility in York, PA, and sales are set to begin in 2019. The
first wave of LiveWire bikes will be offered only in North American and select
parts of Europe.
As for the bike's styling, it's somewhere between
traditional HD, and the company's sport line, Buell, which closed its doors in
2009.
In additional to LiveWire, five other all-electric bikes are
slated for release in 2022. Rumor has it, two will be middleweight, and three
will be lightweight (bicycle or scooter-sized).
Livewire's design came straight from Harley-Davidson's
Product Development Center in Wisconsin. But to help build its electric onslaught,
HD announced it will open a new research and development center in Silicon
Valley. The West Coast and Midwest facilities will work together to create the
zero-emissions lineup.
"This new facility will serve as a satellite for the
Willie C. Davidson Product Development center in Wauwatosa, which is where I'm
located," explained Sean Stanley, H-D's chief engineer for EV platforms in
an article from SAE. "It will initially focus on EV research and
development and it includes battery power electronics, e-machine design,
development and advanced manufacturing."
"I will be working directly with the EV-systems team
there, establishing an EV architecture and building blocks that can support
many of the vehicles that we plan to bring to market. At the PDC in Wauwatosa,
we'll take those building blocks — that the Silicon Valley center develops —
through the product development cycle to prepare for commercially available
vehicles."
Video of the New Electric Motorcycle
Harley Davidson recently celebrated its 115th anniversary, and quite frankly, the company needs something new. Demand for its motorcycles in the U.S. has declined drastically, causing sales to drop 13.3 percent for the quarter compared to last year.
There are various reasons for the drop in sales. In
additional to the fact that HD has traditionally attracted an older clientele
that's no longer riding, it also faces a new 25-percent tariff imposed by the
European Union on U.S. motorcycles.
Despite the fact the company is struggling stateside, it's
doing well internationally. Sales overseas are up 2.6, but still, the company
needs to do something at home. LiveWire, and the rest of the electric lineup
will hopefully stir up some excitement and get younger people riding.
"EV technology has a lot to offer in the area of new
experiences and connections to the motorcycle and environment around you.
Simplistic, twist and go riding [as] there's no shifting. Reducing the noise to
focus more on the experience of riding. The instant torque, reduced
maintenance. A bike that's easy to control for novice riders, all the way up to
performance that intrigues experienced riders," Stanley states.
Here's hoping the innovative bike will breathe new life into
a 115-year-old company.
SOURCE: Future Car
Story By: Mia Bevacqua
