HARLEY-DAVIDSON’S ELECTRIC BIKE IS ON ITS WAY
After spending four years in a prototype stage, the electric model will be ready by the middle of next year
On Tuesday, during a routine earnings call, Harley-Davidson announced it will produce an allelectric motorcycle. The announcement accompanied news of additional job cuts and a plant closure at the Milwaukee-based company. It also came four years after Harley unveiled its “LiveWire” project, a prototype all-electric motorcycle.
“You’ve heard us talk about Project LiveWire,” Matt Levatich, the president and chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson, told listeners during the call Tuesday. “It’s an active project we’re preparing to bring to market within 18 months.''
If it is anything like its precursor, the new motorcycle, which was not named, will carry a roughly 50-mile range and be able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4 seconds.
By comparison, Zero’s SR hits 60mph in 3.3 seconds, and the Mission R racer has a top speed of more than 150mph, with a sub-3-second sprint time. A standard Ducati Monster 1200 motorcycle can hit 60mph in just under 3 seconds.
The decision comes at a time when the electric motorcycle market is small but growing: In a 2016 report, market research firm TechNavio projected 45 per cent growth in the electric motorcycle industry by 2020.
This stands in stark contrast to the deepening slump in US motorcycle demand, with industry retail sales down 6.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017; Harley sales fell 11 per cent in the fourth quarter and 8.5 per cent for the year, according to numbers released on the call.
Harley-Davidson Chief Financial Officer John Olin said the company will spend $25 million to $50 million per year over the next several years on electric motorcycle technology. The goal is to be the world leader in the electric motorcycle market.
“Our brand stands for freedom and independence and personal freedom, and we think the brand is fundamentally sound,” he said during the call.
Meanwhile, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG currently sells an electrified $23,000 C Evolution e-Scooter in Europe and has shown a futuristic electric motorcycle concept (that won’t require a helmet), while upstart electric motorcycle companies such as Zero Motorcycles and Brammo maintain brisk businesses of their own.
The irony in the Harley announcement is that it comes from a company that built its image on the loud, outlaw-style rumble of its engine.