Harley-Davidson has stopped the production of electric motorcycles. What is wrong with them?

There are probably very few people in the world who do nothave heard about the legendary motorcycles of the American company Harley-Davidson. Hearing this name, images of cool bikers involuntarily appear in my head, and the roar of powerful motors sounds in my ears. Founded in 1903, the company is still in operation and is not one step behind its competitors in terms of technology. So, in September 2019, she introduced her first electric motorcycle called LiveWire. Only now the launch of the new model was not in the best way - after a few months the production of the new item had to be stopped. What is wrong with electric motorcycles?

Harley-Davidson LiveWire Electric Motorcycle

The fact that some kind of motorcycle was discoveredserious problem, very strange. The fact is that the development of the LiveWire model began back in 2013, and until the current year, the manufacturer had a lot of time to check the operability of all its components. The novelty received a powerful electric motor with a capacity of 78 kilowatts, thanks to which the novelty accelerates to 100 kilometers per hour in just 4 seconds. The motorcycle also has a battery capacity of 15.5 kilowatt-hours, the charge of which is enough to overcome 158 kilometers of track. It was with this battery that the problems arose.

Harley-Davidson Electric Motorcycle Charging

According to company representatives, the problems werefound in the charging system from the home electrical system. The manufacturer promised customers that they could charge the motorcycle battery up to 100% in just an hour. However, a month after the start of sales, the company suddenly forbade owners to charge from a home outlet. Moreover, she still does not disclose the reason for the ban - perhaps, when replenishing energy at home, the battery can explode just like in Tesla cars. It is hoped that the reason is not so serious.

Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Cannot Be Charged From a Home Outlet

At the moment, the company recommends the ownersHarley-Davidson LiveWire can only charge batteries at dealerships using dedicated ChargePoint stations. Representatives claim that they have already begun testing a fixed version of the charging system. Probably, the corrected system will be installed in subsequent batches of motorcycles, but what will need to be done to the owners of the current version is not yet clear. They may be asked to contact the nearest service center where they will replace the defective part for free, but this is only an assumption.

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The rest of the Harley-Davidson motorcycleLivewire seems like a pretty interesting acquisition. Only the lack of a proprietary roar of the motor, for which people appreciate the legendary Harley, can disappoint. However, the company compensated for this shortcoming with the sound of a motor sounding from the speakers - perhaps this is a perversion, but thanks for that too. And it’s quite dangerous to leave electric vehicles silent, because people may not notice the approach of such a car or motorcycle. Because of this, some countries oblige manufacturers to equip their electrical innovations with sound at the legislative level.

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Meanwhile, the popularity of electric vehiclesthe world is constantly growing. High demand for this type of transport promises to be in India, because the authorities have been trying to popularize electric transport for several years. In 2018, there were 126 thousand owners of electric vehicles, but their number will clearly grow. So Harley-Davidson should hurry to fix the problem.