Expectations rise as soon as you swing a leg over the Harley-Davidson Livewire, arguably the world’s most resolved electric motorcycle.
Would the 15.5kWh battery store enough energy to enable the usual emotional bond between a two-wheeled machine and its rider? Would the battery recharging times be a source of pride or a constant frustration? How would the Livewire perform when compared to all those other aspirational piston-bikes in the Harley-Davidson showroom?
And the real biggie: is it worth the $53,995 that it costs here in New Zealand?
After three weeks of living with the Livewire I can confirm that if there was a spare $54k stashed in my garage toolbox that it would be immediately transferred to my friendly local Harley dealer.
I’m absolutely addicted to the bike, and now seek group therapy to get over the trauma of having to hand it on to the next poor reviewer so that they can potentially develop a similar affliction.
For someone who often has to clean oil and grease from beneath their fingernails after performing routine acts of maintenance on my own two internal combustion motorcycles, this sudden deep affection for a near-silent Harley is totally unexpected.
There are multiple reasons for the Livewire’s capture of my heart by stealth. First, the brand is one I’ve never felt compelled to buy into. As a Ducati-guy for several decades now I’ve long had America’s finest bike maker stored in a box marked “conservative, old-fashioned, and slow”.
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The Livewire isn’t any of those things. It’s eye-poppingly quick off the mark, rails through corners like it was born for them, and is as radical as the rest of motor company’s offerings (new Pan America adventure bike aside) are totally old-school.
Second, just look at it. The quietest Harley exudes so much visual dynamism when parked that it looks like it’s already on the move. There’s a muscularity to the design that makes even the defunct V-Rod – the gang member’s motorcycle of choice - look a little effete by comparison.
That impression of athleticism is helped by the Livewire’s highbrow components. The Showa suspension is state of the art, the Japanese brand’s famed “Big Piston” front forks being shared with my Ducati 899 Panigale, and the twin-tube monoshock out back representing what is perhaps Japan’s best rear shock. Both offer plenty of adjustability, allowing the rider to really get the handling of the Livewire chassis dialed into their preferences.
There’s another connection to my Pan in the four-piston Brembo calipers that take care of primary braking duties for the Livewire, and the way they’re radially mounted for increased stability when applying their vast amount of stopping force. Tyre sizes – 120/70ZR17 front and 180/55ZR17 rear - are yet another specification shared with my Panigale.
It’s little wonder then that I instantly bonded with the Livewire’s handling from the first corner onwards.
It’s considerably heavier than my 899, creating a bit more inertia while turning in, but once it was leaned over, I was totally impressed, especially when finding that I could use all the tread profiles of the tyres without anything touching down. No “sissy stripes” of un-scrubbed rubber for this fat-tyred Harley then.
Who knew that the most adept corner carver from Harley-Davidson would be the electric bike?
Time to address the elephant in the garage: that electric powertrain. It’ll rip the stone chips right away from the grip of the tar on New Zealand’s back roads, and do it while emitting a jet-like sound thanks to the bevel transfer gear fitted to the belt-drive transmission.
With roughly 230km of riding range when used in town, the Livewire is a commuter par excellence, dominating all other vehicles with its off-the-mark expediency and ultra-smooth throttle response. The low-speed balance is superb thanks to the fat tyres and the low centre of gravity while the seat height and slightly leaned-forward riding position could be tailor-made for cutting across town with similar ease and control to a Vespa.
But what about the open road? Isn’t that a Harley’s sacred ground? That useful range on a full charge drops to 160km at highway speeds, but this is still a bike capable of traveling long distances in a day with ease so long as a regular recharging strategy is adopted.
I did a 340km lap of Northland on the Livewire, stopping at every fast charger along the way to the top the battery back up to an 80 per cent charge. This restricted the battery recharging times to 15 minutes, enough of a period for a bit of a walk to exercise the legs and recharge my personal reserves of energy.
It turned out to be one of the pleasurable long-ish distance rides on a motorcycle in a single day that I’ve had. Admittedly I wasn’t in any hurry, but I did keep the Livewire cruising at the 100kmh open road limit, and regularly opened it up to overtake slower traffic. My recharging costs for the journey were roughly half what I would have paid for petrol had I taken the Ducati over the same route.
Add those energy cost savings to the even more impressive low maintenance costs of the Livewire because the powertrain is virtually maintenance-free except for the final drive belt, and there is some financial justification for spending $54k on this bike.
The break-even point is probably sometime in 2050, but you’ll certainly have a lot of fun reaching it.
