An uncovered document has more details about Harley's hip new electric bike.
Harley-Davidson built its first electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, a couple of years ago. In May, we found out that Harley-Davidson planned to branch LiveWire out into an independent, partially Silicon Valley-based electric motorcycle startup with a mission to — brace yourself for buzzwordery — “draw on its DNA as an agile disruptor from the lineage of Harley-Davidson.”
LiveWire is due to launch its first bike in July. And Motorcycle.com uncovered some additional details about it from Harley-Davidson’s VIN filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Association.
The name for the new bike stays well within the Harley-Davidson wheelhouse. It will be called the LiveWire One, which makes a dramatic departure from HD’s Serial 1 electric bicycle by spelling out the number. The LiveWire One will be released as a 2021 model year bike, which strongly suggests it will arrive later this year.
LiveWire’s VIN filing also notes a peak output of 101 brake horsepower, just short of the 105 bhp for the 2020 Harley-Davidson LiveWire and the Milwaukee Eight-117 combustion engine.
The big unanswered question for Livewire — and potentially the decisive one — will be how much the Livewire One will cost. The Harley-Davidson Livewire started at just under $30,000. For context, Livewire’s main electric rival, Zero Motorcycles, launched the SR/F — with comparable specs and better charging technology — starting under $20,000.
Electric motorcycles are not Harley-Davidson’s only venture outside its comfort zone this year. The hunt for new markets also has them breaking out into adventure bikes with the all-new 2021 Pan America.