Europe: Harley takes pre-orders for LiveWire e-motorbike

Harley Davidson opens the order books for its first fully electric motorcycle LiveWire in Europe. The iconic brand expects deliveries to start this autumn and has asked clients to reserve quickly due to a limited contingent.

To pre-order the electric motorbike, customers must leave an as of yet unspecified deposit at an authorised LiveWire dealer, who can be found on the website, says Harley Davidson. The brand’s marketing director Steve Lambert registered “very keen interest” so far but would not comment on how many units Harley allocated to the European market.

So far, prices are known for the German-speaking markets where the e-bike starts from €32,995. The UK site also features a LiveWire tab but requires you to leave your details for a trader to get back to you. In the US, pre-orders had opened in January.

This was also the time when Harley confirmed the LiveWire spec. The series version promises an improved range of 140 miles (225 kilometres) in urban traffic and 88 miles (142 kilometres) in the combined cycle, using the SAE J2982 Riding Range Test Procedure. The bike accelerates from 0 to 100 kph in 3.0 seconds.

The company has also looked into fast-charging, and the e-motorcycle features CCS as a DC-charging standard with additional Level 3 chargers currently being installed at dealerships. Harley says a full charge takes no more than an hour. The battery holds cells from Samsung SDI. For overnight charging at home, the LiveWire connects via an integrated Level 1 connection.

And, the electric motorbike is not all there is at Harley when it comes to e-mobility. Back at the CES in January, the company had brought prototypes of an electric scooter and off-road e-bike they announced in July 2018. As with the LiveWire, the Americans are taking their time to on-sale – the slower LEVs are slated for 2021.

Numbers of the Harley Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle are limited but the brand is planning to invest between 150 and 180 million dollars in e-mobility by 2022, about one-third of its total budget.

harley-davidson.com (UK), pressebox.de (orders in Europe, in German)