Yesterday at CES, Harley Davidson announced that it has started taking orders for its futuristic all-electric bikes from project LiveWire. The two-wheel vehicle made its first public appearance in 2014.
While the company is making its way towards an ideal zero emission and battery-supported vehicle, this amazing ride will run you $29,799 and will be delivered to the users by Fall. That means getting your hands on this electric two-wheeler will not easy – it costs significantly more than all the other motorcycles in the market. But if you can scrape together the cash, you’ll get an amazing bike and the 116 years-strong trusted support that comes with Harley Davidson products.
Some of the specs showcased in its CES preview left onlookers in awe. The electric two-wheeler can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in under 3.5 seconds, immediately giving 100 percent of its torque. The drive experience is smooth, taking note of the fact that the bike is clutch free and requires no gear shifting in between the rides. This feature makes the drive much simpler for new riders. The motor that acts as a generator when the bike is slowing down, providing a regenerative braking system during the stop. Harley also declared that the bike can travel 110 miles within the city on a single charge. However, the number of miles that it can travel on highways is still not available.
The bike comes with a telematics system that keeps track of features such as charging and tamper alerts. All these are connected directly to a customer’s phone through Harley’s mobile app to provide instant alerts straight on one’s device. With this, the company claims this two-wheeler to be the first one with a cellular connection.
The bike’s battery has lithium-ion cells that are kept cool by the cast aluminum fins along with an air-cooled engine. The structure is designed in a way that the placement of the battery and engine are kept low to protect the rider from losing their balance. All of these features make the bike even more approachable for new riders. The fact that Harley is aiming to make the riding experience hassle-free seems one of the key factors of the product.
The biggest of the challenges that LiveWire will face before making their initial deliveries is the need to convince people that a bike without a roaring engine sound and all the fancy rider stuff is what the future looks like. Harley has made the acceleration sound of LiveWire its signature Harley Davidson sound.
Harley Davidson began their LiveWire customer service campaign in 2015, partly to learn what exactly what potential customers were expecting. The GM of global marketing operations Ken Ostermann told Wired that same year that they were sending some LiveWires abroad because the company needed “to understand from our globally diverse set of riders what they’re looking for out of Project LiveWire, not just our traditional customer base. Our intent is really to expand the pool of folks who are providing input.” We think they debuted a great new product.
Keeping in mind how the company has been facing layoffs in the past few years, we wish it all the best for CES 19 and beyond.
