Harley-Davidson pulls the plug from its electric motorcycle production

For years, American motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson has been ruling the biking industry. It was one of major motorcycle firms that survived the great depression of the 1930s. However, with the advent of electric mobility worldwide, the motorcycle company has come out with its latest fully electric bike, the LiveWire, that could completely revolutionize the electric bike industry.

Although it seems that the company is facing some technical issues with the bikes charging equipment. According to reports, Harley-Davidson has recently announced that it has temporarily halted the production and shipping of LiveWire, due to an ongoing issue with the charging equipment of the bike.

However, it claims that the bikes are safe to ride, but has adviced its first few customers to charge the electric motorcycle at its dealerships, signaling that there might be an issue with plugging its charger into lower-voltage outlets.

Reportedly, the LiveWire was introduced as a prototype motorcycle in 2014, but the plan came into implementation in 2018 when the company reintroduced the bike in production-ready form in November.

Harley-Davidson has priced LiveWire at a strategic value, a move initiated by the company to attract new and younger riders, in order to boost dropping sales. But the price point seems to be $10,000 more than the most expensive electric bike in the segment. Apparently, the bike costs the same as a Tesla Model 3.

Moreover, contributing to the downtrend, it has recently been noticed that the younger buyers are more inclined towards buying a used Harley instead of owning a new one. Besides, the LiveWire’s target audience were those young, first time rider who are conscious about the environment – a group which currently does not exist. However, Harley hopes to change this result after the introduction of LiveWire.

Source Credit: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/14/20914314/harley-davidson-livewire-electric-motorcycle-charging-problem-production-halted