Harley-Davidson delays its first $30,000 electric motorcycle after unexpected findings during final quality checks
- The company delayed the motorcycle after ‘non-standard conditions’ were discvoered during final quality checks
- Dealers had begun selling pre-orders of the bike in January
- Harley-Davidson had forecast shipping 1,600 bikes
Harley-Davidson has delayed production on its first electric motorcycle, called LiveWire.
In an email sent to dealers last week, the company announced it had found a ‘non-standard condition’ in its final quality checks but didn’t elaborate further.
The LiveWire was officially announced for commercial release last fall with a planned price of $29,799.
Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire (pictured above) was announced for commercial release in 2018.
‘We recently discovered a non-standard condition during a final quality check; stopped production and deliveries; and began additional testing and analysis, which is progressing well,’ the company said in a statement.
The company had already begun delivering models of LiveWire to dealers in September.
The company had expected to ship around 1,600 bikes, or an estimated 1 percent of the company’s total big shipments.
The LiveWire is said to go from 0-60 mph in three seconds and reach top speeds of 110 mph.
Harley-Davidson recommends users go to dealers to charge the vehicle rather than trying to use standard electrical outlets in their homes.
Harley-Davidson claims the LiveWire will hit top speeds of 110mph and go 0-60 in three seconds.
It is powered by a 15.5 kWh battery and has a 105 horsepower magnetic engine and a range of 146 miles city driving on a single charge.
Harley-Davidson had told potential customers to charge the bike only at registered dealers and not in their homes.
The bike was first shown in The Avengers: Age of Ultron as a sleek prototype ridden by Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow character.
The LiveWire promised a slew of advanced technical features, including what PR Manager Paul James descried as ‘twist-and-go.’
‘Because it’s all-electric, it’s twist-and-go,’ Paul James, PR Manager at Harley-Davidson, told Dailymail.com at the Las Vegas Convention Center earlier this year.
The LiveWire first appeared in The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The LiveWire’s battery is said to have a range of 146 miles of city driving.
‘There’s no transmission, there are no shifters, no clutch – it’s very easy to ride.’
LiveWire is equipped with a full suite of electronic lateral aids, with a slew of sensors and programmable touch controls.
It also has cellular connectivity, making it the first mass market motorcycle in North America with the capability.
This means it can alert the owner if the bike has been tampered with or moved. It also has built-in GPS for location tracking.
As for the sound, Harley says its electric powertrain will produce a ‘new signature Harley-Davidson sound,’ with minimal vibration, heat, and noise.
