Posted on 01/19/2023 10:05:47 AM PST by Salman
Harley-Davidson is planning to phase out motorcycles powered by its storied internal combustion engines, and will slowly but surely transform into an all-electric brand. Harley CEO Jochen Zeitz tells Dezeen that after 120 years of being famous for its big gas-powered models, electrification is the logical next step. That is, if the company plans on sticking around for another 120 years.
Harley-Davidson’s EV transition “needs to happen,” according to its CEO, and not just on a small scale with a brand like LiveWire. No, we’re talking H-D dealers selling EVs exclusively, although it isn’t going to happen overnight.
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(Excerpt) Read more at jalopnik.com ...
“Keep your sound off of my yard.”
In further news, Harley Davidson spokeswimp recommends Harley EV Bike riders choose the manufacturer’s spoke wheel with a playing card hooked to the frame with a clothespin option, in order to produce a poor facsimile Harley Davidson sound when silently rolling down the roadway.
To get similar performance from the “electric” motorcycle, the frame is going to have to include a hitch to attach the trailer for the additional batteries. There simply is not enough room in the base frame to include all the battery array necessary to equal the hydrocarbon-fueled performance of existing HD cycles.
And the weight factor. Plus the wait factor for recharge.
I know, there are electric bicycles. But that does not scale up. ALL of them are short-range.
Waiting for hydrogen fuel cells to be commonplace and competitive in price.
This world is going freakin insane! HD Electric? They are the last company i woudl have thought would jump on the asinine electric vehicle wagon
Over thirty years ago I attended a presentation which predicted that by 2020 there would only be three car companies world-wide.
If you ignore the badge-engineering and look at the actual holding companies, that looks to have been nearly correct.
With this announcement Harley is stating that in a few years there will be no makers of real motorcycles left in a decade or so.
I expect the Germans and Japanese to commit the same sort of corporate Seppuku.
Ah! The familiar sounds of a big engine Harley peeling out, revving up at stop lights - every one will notice ... the silence.
This will be worse than when the bowling ball company owned HD.
That’s pretty funny.
hardley davidson...
A Harley ain’t a Harley if it sounds like a BMW.
++++++++++
Since BMW is already on the path of woke electrification, they will sound the same. They will create a “fake” engine noise. Just like when I was a kid and used the clothespins and playing cards in the spokes of the wheel to sound cool. So pathetically sad. My 1983 GS1100E will continue to make nice noise for now.
Was at one time.
Electric has no interest to me. When convenience and range issues meet Internal combustion then I will have interest in electric.
Not before
A Tranny that identifies as a Harley.
Next...
Arby’s... we have the bugs!
They’re dead, Jim.
How about the long orange flags that we used on our bikes as kids? The safety morons at a major oil company in the Farmington, NM area require that all of their work trucks in the field have them. It is quite humorous to drive through the area.
He didn’t bother to explain why the absurd change would happen. “The future” is not a reason.
Not totally true.
Cheap Chinese electric dirt bikes and street scooters are all over the place, some even last up to a year in use.
But they are really disposable with short life, like Chinese made battery powered tools.
“will slowly but surely transform into an all-electric brand”
RIP Harley Davidson.
The end of a great company. Note to CEO: A Harley without its characteristic motor sound isn’t a Harley.
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