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Harley-Davidson to make electric motorcycle in 5 years
Harley-Davidson recently announced plans to create an electric Harley within the next five years, which will not resemble its 2014 LiveWire project.
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Harley-Davidson's first electric motorcycle is coming soon. (Harley-Davidson/-)
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n 2014, legendary motorcycle builder Harley-Davidson gave a sneak peek of its latest attempt to increase its relevance, showing off its new technology: Project LiveWire.
Now, the motorcycle giant has announced plans to create an electric Harley within the next five years, which will not resemble the 2014 LiveWire.
According to wired.com, the previous demo unit had 74 horsepower, an electrically limited top speed of 152 kilometers per hour and a range of 85 kilometers, charging fully in 3.5 hours. However, the prototype has increased its speed from 0 to 96 km per hour in under four seconds.
The LiveWire may not rumble like Harley’s trademark bikes, but the company must compete with fellow major bike players which are turning toward the potential of ecofriendly electric bikes.
“Any business has always got to look ahead to see where customers are interested in going and see where society might be going,” Harley's marketing chief Mark-Hans Richer said in 2014.
(Read also: For the love of motorcycles, music and martial arts)
Having completed its Project LiveWire Experience Tour test run two years ago, Harley has gathered sufficient feedback and elicited enthusiastic responses from riders across the US and Europe to develop its electric bikes.
Harley now faces the key challenge of optimizing the bike’s range. Ideally, it needs to be at least double the 80 kilometers of its experimental machines. Increasing the range translates to increasing battery power, which inevitably increases the size of battery packs.
Unless engineers are able to improve the energy density of the batteries, this will lead to Harley’s second problem: balancing the bike’s function and aesthetics. Battery packs are large and bulky and should be seated at the bottom of the bike’s frame, which poses another concern over the bike’s overall appearance and maneuverability.
The company is yet to release additional details regarding the upcoming LiveWire design choices, specs or target audience. (sab/kes)
