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Harley-Davidson is preparing to release its first electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, in August. In an interview with Business Insider, Marc McAllister, Harley-Davidson's vice-president of Harley-Davidson products, hopes the bike will appeal to urban consumers and provide a low entry barrier for beginners on motorcycles.
"EV lends itself well to the growth of the next generation of motorcyclists when it comes to its ease of entry and its ease of use for non-motorcyclists," he said.
Read more: A former Harley-Davidson executive is attempting to tackle one of the industry's biggest challenges: to create a new brand of motorcycles in the United States.
While gas-powered motorcycles require drivers to change gears, a process that can be difficult for new bikers to learn, LiveWire's electric motor eliminates the need to shift gears; runners only need to turn on the throttle for the LiveWire to accelerate. The motorcycle will also feature driving modes that can be tailored to the owner's experience level. For example, an inexperienced owner may choose to reduce the maximum power of the vehicle.
"It's less intimidating to jump on the horse and learn to fly it," McAllister said.
The LiveWire will also be more agile and agile than current Harley-Davidson offerings, said McAllister, which is another benefit for urban cyclists. Harley-Davidson's priority is to call urban consumers because of the global trend towards urbanization, but the company's gas-powered motorcycles are less suited to urban cyclists than LiveWire because of their size and of their driving style, McAllister said.
"Becoming performant in conducting urban driving experiences is something for which we think the future will need us."
The LiveWire is designed for urban cyclists partly out of necessity. Harley-Davidson says that the LiveWire will have a range of about 110 miles, which is good for many trips, but could make traveling on the road difficult.
"[The LiveWire] Mr. McAllister said, "For normal use by most people, this vehicle has more than enough autonomy."
Harley-Davidson dealers selling LiveWire will have fast charging stations as soon as the vehicle is released for riders who need to charge their car away from home. Approximately 150 dealers will initially sell LiveWire, and the number of loading stations will increase with the number of dealers transporting the vehicle.
Starting at just under $ 30,000, the price of the LiveWire is among the high-end offers Harley-Davidson, but Mr. McAllister hinted that the LiveWire would be among the most expensive bikes proposed by the company in the years coming up "a few thousand dollars."
McAllister declined to say whether Harley-Davidson was considering making a specific percentage of its portfolio electric in the coming decades, but the company announced in a presentation to investors in 2018 that it was planning to introduce at least two additional electric motorcycles by the end of 2022.
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