Although Harley-Davidson has created some short-term confusion by spinning off its LiveWire EV motorcycle into a stand alone brand, it has big plans to build more than 100,000 EVs a year by 2026.
Its next EV model is due to be unveiled in the second quarter of 2022.
Catching everyone up, Harley has joined with AEA Bridges Impact Corporation to create a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to create the first publicly traded U.S. electric motorcycle company.
A SPAC is basically a faster way to raise cash via a publicly traded company as compared to a more traditional initial public offering (IPO).
The end-result is the LiveWire standalone brand. But it’s still controlled by Harley-Davidson, which maintains 74% of ownership and the SPAC creates $545 million in net cash proceeds, according to the LiveWire investor presentation.
For electric motorcycle fans what it means is Harley can scale up EV operations faster thanks to a big cash infusion.
Now that the LiveWire One is on roads, next out of the gate will be an EV motorcycle that is code named the S2 Del Mar. It will be built on what Harley calls its Arrow S2 architecture. The S2 Del Mar is expected to be smaller and more affordable than the LiveWire One, which cost $21,999 at the time of this story’s publication.
LiveWire showed off what is assumed to be the S2 Del Mar’s instrument cluster in its investor presentation.
That presentation also includes a rough visual of the S2 Del Mar and Harley has previously released a rendering that is likely closest to what the middleweight bike will look like.
Unlike traditional Harleys and the LiveWire One, the S2 Del Mar apparently doesn’t have the usual Harley switchgear. Again, that’s assuming the image in the investor presentation represents a production S2 Del Mar.
The different switchgear makes sense since Harley has partnered with KYMCO for its LiveWire brand, KYMCO is a well-known Taiwanese motorcycle and scooter maker.
While the LiveWire One is made at Harley-Davidson’s York, Pennsylvania plant, EV Rider is speculating that lower-cost, higher-volume LiveWire EVs will likely be produced outside the U.S.
EV Rider is basing that speculation on an investor presentation slide that says Harley-Davidson and KYMCO will “support global at-scale manufacturing while minimizing investment.”
So far, Harley is off to a modest start, with just 387 LiveWires units moved in 2021, according to the investor presentation.
Harley’s LiveWire brand is projecting sales of more than 50,000 EVs by 2025 and by 2030, LiveWire is forecasting that number to skyrocket to more than 190,000 units.
Harley claims its LiveWire brand has a four-to-five year head start in EVs as compared to other legacy motorcycle makers and claims it can scale up EV production faster than EV-only brands like Zero Motorcycles and Energica.
The LiveWire S2 Del Mar specs aren’t available yet but we do know it will be a middleweight bike that is expected to be followed by lightweight, low-cost motorcycles. That’s likely where KYMCO will play a major role.
LiveWire owner and enthusiast Diego Cardenas says he’s all for Harley’s venture with KYMCO.
“KYMCO has years of experience building other types of vehicles in other markets which Harley-Davidson is not strong in and where LiveWire obviously doesn’t have any footing – it gives them that additional footing. And the best thing of all, it’s going to give them an influx of cash. You know, cash is king as they say. So they’re going to be able to hire in the right talent, build the right infrastructure, put together the right pieces to build the products they think are going to be market successes,” said Cardenas in a recent interview with EV Rider.
Heavyweight EV motorcycles – think Harley’s bread-and-butter gasoline category – are expected with the LiveWire S4 models, which will likely be the last to arrive in showrooms.
And speaking of showrooms, it’s unknown at this point how many Harley dealers will carry the LiveWire brand.
Harley is in the midst of figuring all that out, but it does say in its investor presentation that LiveWire will be “leveraging Harley-Davidson’s 1,400 global dealers.”
At least a few Harley dealers have already announced they will continue to carry LiveWires, but others, such as Adamec Harley-Davidson here in Jacksonville, FL, haven’t announced a decision yet – although they still have Harley-branded LiveWires on the showroom floor.
As for the original Harley-Davidson LiveWire – before it was rebranded as the LiveWire One – those owners likely have one of the rarest Harleys that will ever be produced.
If you’ve enjoyed this edition of EV Rider, please give it a like and subscribe to my YouTube channel so I can bring you more EV motorcycle news and adventures.