IN
THE
WIND
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HARLEY-DAVIDSON TO GO ELECTRIC
H
arley-Davidson's Senior Vice
President of Global Demand
Sean Cummings has told the
Milwaukee Business Journal the
company will create a produc-
tion version of the two-year-old
LiveWire concept bike within the
next five years.
The project represents the
first official steps by the com-
pany into the electric-bike
market and means the Bar-
and-Shield brand will eventually
face archrival Victory—who had
earlier purchased pioneering
electric company Brammo and
have been racing electric mo-
torcycles at the Isle of Man TT
and the upcoming Pikes Peak
International Hill Climb—head-on
in the emerging sector.
Harley-Davidson faces a huge
development task ahead of them
in ensuring the new electric
machine is up to scratch. The
2014 LiveWire prototype, built
with expertise from the now-
defunct Mission Motors, was
created to gauge a possible
move into the sector—a very
un-Harley-Davidson sector at
that—and the reaction must have
been encouraging enough for
the board's directors to give the
green light to a project that will
no doubt cost more than a pretty
penny to develop.
Nevertheless, Harley-David-
son has given itself plenty of
time to get this new machine
right. With a five-year develop-
ment time, battery technology
will no doubt improve and charg-
ing times will dwindle, as will,
very importantly, the machine's
overall weight.
Details on exactly what the
new electric Harley-Davidson
will be (cruiser, bobber, chop-
per, etc.) are very hard to
come by, so expect more drip
feeds over the coming months
(and years!) as the world gets
prepared for a machine that
seems set to be an enormous
milestone in the company's his-
tory.CN
Harley-Davidson will develop an electric model.
