We first saw the Harley-Davidson LiveWire as a concept back in 2014. The American motorcycle manufacturer that has earned the status of an icon because of its big v-twin engines didn’t take very long to put it into production. This, considering that most mainstream motorcycle manufacturers even today don’t have an electric offering in the market. But that’s the thing, Harley does..
The LiveWire has been called many things, including expensive. But among other things, the LiveWire is rather quick – quicker than a Tesla Model 3 Performance for example. It has to be noted that electric vehicles give everything they’ve got the moment you accelerate. The electricity is either on or off and the motorcycle is most definitely the lighter one when pitted against a car.
You might want to skip along to 3.36 to get straight to the action: (Video courtesy: Dragtimes)
LiveWire is powered by a longitudinally-mounted electric motor that makes 105 hp and 116.6 Nm of torque, and it uses a 15.5 kWh RESS (Rechargeable Energy Storage System) battery which, according to Harley, provides a range of 176 km. With DC fast charging, 0-80% or the charge takes 40 minutes, 0-100% takes 60 minutes. The top speed is electronically limited at 176 km/h and 0-96 km/h takes 3 seconds.
Also read: Harley-Davidson’s second electric motorcycle Mid-Power: Smaller, more affordable than LiveWire
Stability and traction can be a bit of a worry for motorcycles but thanks to the rider’s ability and power-to-weight ratio, the LiveWire took an immediate lead in the drag race against the Model 3 Performance. However, towards the end of the quarter-mile track, the Tesla was doing 6.4 km/h faster than the LiveWire. The Tesla lost by only 0.048 and may have won if the race was a bit longer. During the second run, both the car and motorcycle were quicker but Tesla lost again by nearly the same margin.
