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 ...
Perhaps they are just planning for the future, when internal combustion is supposedly to be banned.
My neighbor has a one-acre yard and he bought one of those electric push lawn mowers. It sounds like he is vacuuming it from over here. I think he got it for exercise. I have noticed in July and August when it is over 100 every day that he pulls out the John Deere rider.
“ I guess that’s one way for Harley Davidson to solve their perpetual oil leakage problems.”
Ye of little faith. Somehow they will figure out a way to make a battery leak oil.
With the lines to get into Sturgis, most would be dead before they hit the off-ramp.
I can entirely understand the appeal of an electric motorcycle for Sunday rides. Harley will sell a bunch of them. That said, he just thumbed his nose at 99% of his customers…..good grief.
Fixed it
HD is dead now...................
I wouldn’t have minded the whole electrification drive if they had set out a logical 100 time frame. It takes that long to switch without massive disruption. A slow transition allows you to make midcourse corrections.
Already are. Electrics only in California after 2025.................
Well, they say a Harley always has to mark its territory.
The electric Harleys will sound like a playing card in your bicycle spokes 🤣
“Maybe then I won’t have to hear their stupid, loud pipes. Why that is not considered noise pollution is beyond me. What if I cut off the muffler on my truck? Flame away.”
It is and also the mods are not street legal.
Harley riders are so deaf they have to go open pipes to hear their engine.
Problem is and has always been the life of the batteries, as batteries begin dying as soon as they are rolled of the production lines. Gasoline or Diesel are the only way to go as way back when Thomas Edison came up with the best design on batteries, problem is size and weight.
Exactly! Who’s going to do it this time around?
Does it come a speaker system that plays a recording of ICE HD?
The average cost of a Harley Davidson motorcycle is $20k and would be closer to $35k if all the parts were made in the U.S. instead of China, India, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Italy, Taiwan, Mexico, and Thailand.
The average age of a motorcycle owner was 27 in 1985, 43 by 2003, and 50 by 2008. Harley Davidson's more recent attempts at attracting younger buyers haven't borne out. They might as well go electric, especially if they foresee a market of day rentals.
The dwindling number of grizzled bikers already have a surplus of used Harleys to buy. As Baby Boomers pass away, the widow is selling the house to move into a condo and has no room or need for her deceased husband's toys. Her sons don't want them either. The surplus market for old boats, old cars, and old motorcycles is expanding. All you need is a few dollars, an old barn, a buddy with a flatbed, and a decade or two for their value to go back up when the glut subsides.
Dude, we old guys wear earplugs. Loud pipes save lives.
To get around this Harley just need to install their Maytag electric motors into a housing that looks like a V-twin engine, and then add audio speakers blasting gas powered Harley sounds.
Not if you replace them.
I just put a large, straight through glasspack on my truck (an AP XLerator), replacing a Flowmaster 44. It's actually quieter now, but seems to run a little better.
BlackRock is destroying everything it touches
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