Can Electric Bikes Really Go Anywhere?
The biggest concern I’ve heard repeatedly parroted from the anti-electric vehicle mob is “good luck finding somewhere to charge your Telsa on a long road trip, those things are only good for city commuting”. Harley-Davidson is taking the EV technology they released with their new LiveWire Motorcycle across the entire globe on a 100 day, 13,000-mile trek to prove the naysayers wrong, documented on their H-D podcast series available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
In only 30 days, the same engineers that developed the LiveWire were assembled to retrofit the production model LiveWires to sustain the grueling journey ahead. The bikes utilize production-spec LiveWire parts such as the “RESS (Rechargeable Energy Storage System) hardware, chassis, and Harley-Davidson Revelation™ powertrain components” per the official press release. In addition to all of that, the bikes feature prototype wheels, rotors, and tires from their upcoming Pan America adventure touring bike set to release in late 2020, as a 2021 model.
If a 13,000-mile journey doesn’t sell you on the efficiency and reliability of electric motorcycles, I’m not sure what will. Back in June of 2016, Rafael de Mestre did a similar stunt/challenge by taking his 2012 Tesla Model S on a 15,534-mile drive over an 80 day period to prove the same point.
The podcast will include the engineering process as well as the trip itself and any issues the riders may run into along the way. The LiveWire that Ewan McGregor rode in Harley-Davidson’s recent Long Way Up documentary series was far from stock, so it will be great to see the capabilities of the technology with something closer to the motorcycles H-D has available to consumers.
