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[princec]

Well, that goes back to FortNine's video about the condundrum... the major manufacturers are basically totally missing the point. The point they aren't going to miss is suddenly being unable to sell ICE bikes by law in most of Europe by about 2030, so they've got less than 9 years to have viable products. Maybe their strategy to avoid comparisons with ICE bikes they're selling alongside EV models is to simply not sell them alongside EV models, but suddenly switch their ranges over. That way choice comparisons with price, range, and charging duration will be much harder to make as there will be literally no choice, some grumbling, and then capitulation amongst reluctant consumers. (Hopefully they will be pleasantly surprised)

Cas

[DonTom]

While BMW did develop and market their electric scooter, it sure didn't sell well in the U.S. With the big push to go fully electric by 2030 (not all that far away) with autos I am not seeing any big stampede to do the same with motorcycles. 

How can it sell well when most of  the BMW shops in the USA will not stock it?  The last I heard, it cannot be purchased in the entire state of NV, not even in a BMW shop in Clark County (Las Vegas). Nor can it be serviced in NV.


I recall in this forum, a guy who owned one near Salt Lake City, whose local BMW shop would NOT service it, and it was a big hassle to deal with.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[princec]

It was also a bit lame and ludicrously expensive too...

Cas

[Crissa]

Cruisers are heavy to begin with, and people generally want range with them.  Two things EV bikes do poorly at.

I also think Harley-Davidson was really worried about people triggering traction control.  I wonder why?  Don't they have some of the best in the biz?

-Crissa

[Richtea]

Cruisers are heavy to begin with, and people generally want range with them.  Two things EV bikes do poorly at.

I also think Harley-Davidson was really worried about people triggering traction control.  I wonder why?  Don't they have some of the best in the biz?

-Crissa

I thought their TC was based on there being a fat bloke in the saddle. Miaow.

[Richard230]

I still find if interesting that when H-D showed off the prototype LiveWire, their primary competitor, Polaris, ran out and bought the Brammo Empulse and then two years later dropped it along with Victory. (I never really understood why the Empulse had to be sacrificed on the Victory altar. They could have renamed it an Indian.  )  I wonder if Polaris is now having second thoughts now that the LW is selling enough to given its own brand and dealerships? The Empulse certainly was a good platform, considering that it was designed about 9 years ago. Given a little updating it could have been a decent rival to the LW, Zero and the Energica.

[BigPoppa]

As a former owner of a Victory Cross Country Tour, I was very disheartened to see Polaris shutdown Victory. I always felt that they should have rolled it into Indian and keep one or two of the Victorys as re-badged Indian Models. Definitely the Empulse, if they continued development of the platform and made improvements.

I had the opportunity to test ride the Empulse and although it felt too small for me, it was a decent bike. Unfortunately it didn't have the range I needed to make it work but that was a solvable problem.

I digress from the original topic though...I definitely question the method used to determine that the LiveWire is the best selling electric motorcycle in America. Like others have said, maybe if you consider the single model vs any other single model but when you consider how long Zero has been selling in the US and the variety of models, I would argue that due to the shared platform between most of their models that Zero has a better claim to the best selling electric motorcycle in America.

[Crissa]

Polaris is buying drivetrains from Zero now.

https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/polaris

-Crissa

[DonTom]

Don what I saw said they have only sold a few hundred bikes.

With well more than  1,200 members in the LW forum?


-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

Polaris is buying drivetrains from Zero now.

https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/polaris

-Crissa

Well, that is certainly an interesting development. I guess Polaris has given up on developing their own electric power trains in-house. I bet H-D won't be selling or licensing any of their LW components to other manufacturers or new platform developers.

[NEW2elec]

Don what I saw said they have only sold a few hundred bikes.

With well more than  1,200 members in the LW forum?


-Don-  Reno, NV

Yep even with that.

There are over 1000 members of the Damon Lab and no one has bought a bike yet.

[MVetter]

770 people in the Lightning Owners Group on Facebook.

[togo]

I'm in both, and own neither.

Does LW actually sell so well?

[BigPoppa]

I just checked out the Livewire site and the Livewire One (aka HD Livewire) is now starting at $20k. At that price the bike becomes very competitive with the Zero and Energica. I have a hard time seeing them making a profit on them though...but given their manufacturing capabilities, maybe they are.

At any rate...it's great to see competition in the electric motorcycle space.

[KrazyEd]

It DOES Show as entry level under $20K, but they are doing what the car companies did a dozen years ago, including the tax credit.
So, if you start to build, it is $22K