Going full throttle on the Livewire, Harley Davidson's electric motorcycle
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- Nicholas Sakelaris
- Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal
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The sound of a Harley Davidson is iconic.
Why else would the Milwaukee-based motorcycle builder have tried for six years to trademark that V-twin rumble? They weren't successful but that shows how much the company covets its sound.
So, of course, there's some skepticism among the Harley faithful when the company rolls out a 100-percent electric motorcycle.
The Project Livewire demo tour stopped at Adam Smith's Texas Harley this week to get feedback from the Harley faithful, who took the sleek black motorcycle for test drives around Bedford. This demo rides will continue at Adam Smith's Texas Harley, at 1819 Airport Freeway in Bedford, Friday and Saturday.
"The whole purpose of the project is to really get customer feedback and better understand what customers are looking for in an electric motorcycle," said Chris Kutsch, program manager for Harley Davidson. "We'll take that and decide whether Harley will move forward."
I don't have a motorcycle license so I couldn't do the test drive, but I did get to experience the bike on a stationary platform.
While I'm not a motorcycle expert, I know power when I feel it. I throttled it up to 60 mph almost instantly. Officially, the Livewire can go from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds.
Instead of the trademark Harley rumble, Livewire's 74-horsepower engine really sounds like a jet engine on take-off.
As I let off the throttle, the electric engine's regenerative braking kicks in, using the friction from the motor to send power back to the batteries.
Nicholas covers the energy, manufacturing, aviation and transportation beats for the Dallas Business Journal. Subscribe the Energy Inc. newsletter
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