Harley-Davidson: the electric bike will arrive in 2019

The electric motorcycles of Harley-Davidson will be made, and this is already known, and it will not be a project for those who love traditions and legendary roar of American motorbike. It has been around for about four years, but yesterday the company committed to release the first electric propulsion product ” within 18 months ” from now. We do not yet know technical specifications, but it is likely that performance will be limited compared to the LiveWire prototype shown in 2014.

The latter managed to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in less than four seconds, but had a range of less than 90 kilometers. The technologies in these years have improved drastically in terms of efficiency, and it is likely that on autonomy front numbers will be higher for a project that is certainly more balanced than the previous prototype. The update on product is a cold shower necessary for brand’s historical fans.

The company has recently announced that it will close a plant in Missouri leaving home about 800 employees, while reducing workforce of a plant in Pennsylvania of about 260 employees. The entire motorcycle market has suffered, in particular, in recent years: global sales have fallen by 6.7% in 2017, with a declining trend that will continue in 2018. The sector, in short, can only return to growth thanks to real innovations.

The transition to be electric is certainly not a sure shot as a rescue attempt for Harley-Davidson, since adoption of silent propulsion could, on one hand revolutionize the driving experience, on the other eliminate company’s historical emblem, or roar of fuel engine. With LiveWire, Harley-Davidson tried to solve problem by developing an artificial sound for electric motorcycles, but it is certainly not the same thing.

Very few companies have succeeded in designing prototypes of electric motorcycles really capable of replacing traditional technologies. The few prototypes shown by companies (such as Zero Motorcycles) guarantee interesting performances thanks to linear torque at all regimes and lack of relationships, but autonomy remains a problem even more evident than cars. So it remains to be seen what will succeed in churning out Harley-Davidson in 2019.