Harley-Davidson's newest motorcycle isn't a Harley-Davidson. It's a LiveWire — a new standalone brand for two-wheeled electrics.
"We made a commitment that Harley-Davidson would lead in electric," Harley-Davidson president and CEO Jochen Zetz said in a statement announcing the new brand's first bike. Introduced Thursday, the LiveWire One is an electric motorcycle designed for urban riding.
It's been years in the making. Harley-Davidson introduced its first electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, in 2019, after five years of real-world consumer testing globally. The LiveWire One is an evolution of that bike that imports many of its features, including a haptic system that lets riders know it is running by pulsing the seat and an app that can track its recharge status.
The LiveWire One has 146 miles of range — the same as the original LiveWire — and a similar 0 to 100% recharge time of an hour. Its style is almost identical, with a silver motor topped with a black battery pack showcased in a trellis frame.
What's different about the LiveWire One is its cost. With a starting price of $21,999, it is almost $8,000 less than the Harley version.
With its spinoff brand, Harley is aiming at a different audience: urban, affluent, young and technologically savvy. Similar to many modern sportbikes, the One incorporates a new advanced rider system that tracks the bike's acceleration, wheel direction and wheel lift to measure, monitor and anticipate its movements.
According to the LiveWire website, "Our vision is to create the next generation of motorcycles with products and experiences that merge the power and technology of EV with the unique soulful connection that comes from an analog machine. Together the two create a new emotion that defines LiveWire."
Unlike traditional Harley-Davidsons that run on gas and are equally prized for their style, status and nearly-trademarked "potato-potato" exhaust cadence, the LiveWire brand is aiming for a more understated experience with a minimalist, Apple-esque look and quietude. Being electric, it doesn't roar. It whirs.
It is also easier to ride than a traditional motorcycle. There's no hot exhaust pipe. Riders do not need to coordinate all their extremities to operate the controls as it lacks a clutch or gearshift. They just twist the grip, and they're off.
The LiveWire One will make its public debut on July 18 at the Progressive IMS Outdoors show in Sonoma, Calif., but it is already available for ordering at LiveWire.com, where potential buyers can also schedule demo rides.
The LiveWire One will be available at 12 LiveWire brand dealers in California, New York and Texas. Southern California Harley-Davidson dealerships that will carry the LiveWire Brand include Glendale Harley-Davidson, Huntington Beach Harley-Davidson, Riverside Harley-Davidson and San Diego Harley-Davidson. Additional dealerships will be added in the fall.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the name of the motorcycle show where the LiveWire One will be shown this month. The error has been corrected. (July 8, 2021)