Harley-Davidson is known as The Motor Company, but nobody ever thought the name would be applied to an electric motorcycle.
Meet the Harley Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle, a research project into the viability of an electric two-wheeler for the bar-and-shield brand.
The machine is one of two dozen or so demonstrator bikes that Harley-Davidson built for the Project LiveWire Experience (projectlivewire.com), an H-D dealer demo tour that will travel across the country through the end of the year and into Europe and Canada in 2015. Consumers will get to ride LiveWire and give Harley-Davidson feedback, allowing the company to evaluate consumer interest and decide if and how LiveWire would go into production.
For many, the idea of an electric Harley is a sacrilege, associating the brand with the distinctive sound of big, grumbling engines. That’s something the company says it’s very aware of, however.
“The sound is a distinctive part of the thrill,” senior VP Mark-Hans Richer said of the “unmistakable” noise of the electric engine. “Think fighter jet on an aircraft carrier.”
Let’s see how this goes…
My Motorways 