Harley’s 2019 production electric LiveWire revealed in full
Harley-Davidson unveil their electric production bike ahead of 2019 arrival
Of all the new Harleys we’ve seen in the past few months, the LiveWire is without doubt the most forwardthinking, and a serious gamechanger for the American firm. For a brand that trades on big capacity V-twin muscle, the project is a dramatic leap into the unknown. It’s also one many believed would never happen, despite their 2014 unveiling of rideable prototypes that embarked on a tour to gather feedback from potential customers. “This is a big moment for us because our engineers have been working on it for years and they finally get to show it to the public,” says Paul James, Director of Programme Management. “It’s a relief in many ways. We’ve done so much work to move it on.
“A lot of people are looking at it thinking ‘Hey, I rode that bike two years ago!’. Well this one is totally different. Less than 1% of the production bike parts are shared with LiveWire from four years ago. “One big step forward is the connectivity. As well as phone connectivity such as calls and mapping it will pair with your smart phone to tell you when it’s done charging.”
It’s not all Bluetooth and WiFi – there’s good old-fashioned engineering and power, too. “We went to great lengths to ensure the air-cooling fins on the power pack were just right,” adds James. “They’re functional too – this thing kicks out a fair bit of heat when it’s going at high speed. And let me just say it – it’s very fast.” Even for a brand like Harley, there will be major challenges to overcome before buyers accept the merits of an electric motorcycle. “We know some of the first buyers will be existing Harley owners, but to be successful, it will need to reach a broad spectrum of people,” says James. “We expect some of the first adopters will be electric vehicle enthusiasts who might not be motorcycle riders right now. They’re the sort of people who want to be first, they want to innovate and they don’t mind paying for what will be a premium product.”
Harley won’t talk prices, but given the final spec, we wouldn’t be surprised at £45,000-plus when it arrives in Autumn 2019. Four more budget-conscious versions are set to arrive in dealers by 2022.