Well, it’s been a little over two years since Harley announced and debuted it’s Project Livewire electric motorcycle. At that time, and just up to a few weeks ago, Harley-Davison had stated that it was a concept motorcycle. Now, Harley-Davison has just announced that they will definitively be producing an electric motorcycle. What is still up in the air though, is exactly when the general public will see this electric Harley added to their production bikes.
I’m sure most riders and the general public for that matter, think that an electric motorcycle is a new concept but actually the first electric motorcycle was patented in the United States in 1897! Bill Davidson the great grandson of William Davidson, the founder of Harley-Davidson stated recently, that just like their gas powered motorcycles have a very unique sound, they’re working to make their electric motorcycle to have a unique sound that will be totally different than their competitors. Naturally, it’s not going to sound like our current gas powered Harleys, but more like a jet turbine engine!
Harley Electric Motorcycle
Although Harley-Davidson didn’t say so, I’m sure that not only are they working on a unique sound for the new electric motorcycle, but also an increased range. Their LiveWire electric prototype only had a range of approximately 50 miles and took over three hours to fully charge on regular 110 V house current. Personally, I think to be a success, they’re going to have to get their new electric motorcycle to have a minimum of 150 mile range before recharge is required.
Did you know that in 2011 an electric superbike established the official Guinness record of the fastest electric motorcycle. The motorcycle clocked a speed of over 196 mph at Bonneville. Also, in 2013, the Lightning Motorcycle Super-bike electric motorcycle set the fastest overall time in the motorcycle division, beating all gas powered motorcycles in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb!
Probably, if you’re like me and have been riding gas powered bikes for years, you might think that Harley is making a huge mistake by getting into the electric motorcycle market. Sure, I know many of us are set in our ways, and it’s really hard to envision an electric bike. But, the truth is that were living in a technologically powered world and one just has to look at the Tesla automobile success to see the future.
Actually, with the push toward autonomous driving cars, there might be quite a lot of renewed interest in motorcycles and especially an electronic motorcycle. There may be many people happy with the autonomous Disneyland type of transportation, but, I think these types of folks are definitely in a minority here in the United States.
So in conclusion let me say, that electric motorcycles and electric Harleys are the future, well at least until we have some type of levitation vehicles that are able to hover down the highway at an inch or two over the pavement. Personally, for me I don’t think I’ll be around to see that levitation motorcycle, but, I do think I have a chance of driving an electric Harley sometime in the near future.
Looking for more information on electric motorcycles, check out this Wikipedia link.
