Harley-Davidson Project LiveWire electric motorcycle

Harley-Davidson, perhaps the most famous motorcycle manufacturer in the world, are going electric. Sort of… In a small way. Besides being a cult icon, Harley-Davidson are also known for making mostly outdated bikes, covering them in chrome, and charging a fairly hefty price. High-tech and forward-thinking are not words which spring to mind when thinking about the company’s past products.

They have made inroads towards becoming more or a 21st century manufacturer, and the Harley-Davidson Project LiveWire might be the start of a new chapter for the company. It’s the first electric-powered Hog, and while the company says the bike is not for sale, it will be used to gather data and customer feedback regarding a future electric-powered Harley. Project LiveWire will take a tour down Route 66, visiting over 30 Harley-Davidson dealerships in the coming months and allowing select customers to take the bike for a ride and experience it first-hand.

In an effort to retain one of Harley-Davidson’s biggest selling points – the distinctive ‘blub, blub’ noise of their V-twin engines – the Project LiveWire electric motorcycle has been designed to provide its own distinctive sound track. Harley-Davidson says it sounds like a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier. I think it sounds more like a model jet aircraft doing a fly-by. But at least we agree on the jet part.

To give them their due, it’s notoriously difficult to create quality artificial sound for vehicles. And they should be applauded for resisting the temptation to try and recreate the sound of one of their more conventional machines.

Harley-Davidson haven’t said anything about the electric drive of the bike, presumably because it’s a prototype and there’s a good chance they’ll be constantly tweaking it and making alterations during its tour across the States. However from the images it’s clear to see they’ve integrated the motor into an aluminium housing which at a glance gives the appearance of a faux internal combustion engine. The batteries look to be positioned just above where they are protected by the frame but also receive plenty of cooling air.