Harley Davidson LiveWire may take 5 years to hit the market

It has been two years since Harley announced their first electric prototype to the global media - The Harley Davidson project LiveWire. During announcement time it was just a concept model, but now they have a change of heart. Their first set of electric vehicles will be available to the customers within 5 years of time. The legendary motorcycle firm has been looking for new power trains and technologies to set new standards in the global market, through all these years of time.



They have produced only a limited number of LiveWires say 40. The main intention was to give away test rides to media and customers, in order to acquire review of their new EV. And the Livewire was pretty impressive with a good consumer feedback from every aspect.

The heart of LiveWire is a longitudinal three-phase AC motor, which is belt driven or either by a bevel gear. The new electric motor has a tremendous 74 horsepower with a 52 pound-feet of peak torque. The top speed of LiveWire is limited to 95 mph and it is pretty decent to achieve 0-60 mph under 4 seconds. Harley has undisclosed stats and figures on LiveWire's battery, but it is likely to be around 10-14 kWH. The lithium-ion unit takes 3.5 hours to reach the 2,200 volt mark. The company demands a 55 mile range with fully charged battery, but on high performance mode it is around 33 miles. The chassis is made of cast aluminum. The steering head is attached to the swing arm using a trellis frame. LED headlight and TFT dashboard screens are other notable features of the new Harley. The motorcycle weighs 208 kgs.



The unveiling of Harley's new EV has surprised all the Harley customers as well as motorbike lovers throughout the world. Like Tesla Model S, the LiveWire is believed to stand as a symbol for the electric revolution that is taking place in automobile industry (as from automobile journalists and media spoke persons from USA). It is considered to be the giant leap of Harley from their traditional way of making loud, heavy and expensive motorcycles. The main intention of bringing out this new technology is to reach a wide range of customers, which company lacks throughout the ages.



The design of LiveWire stands apart from the Harley family, and it is compared to their early subsidiary Buell Motorcycles. The sound of LiveWire has been engineered to a whole new level. The futuristic exhaust sound of the motorcycle resembles something from a different planet. According to the company officials, they have spent months in R&D department to orchestrate a perfect symphony for their new breed.



The main drawback of the Harley's new EV was their power train when compared with available electric motorcycles of other brands. But they have invested a five years of time to develop a new one and to rectify minor errors of their prototype model, like more battery range and quicker charging time. It is also sure that the production model will have some styling changes too from the concept model. But a five years of time period is also a disadvantage since other competitors would also come up with alternatives for LiveWire.