Earlier than I actually dig into this, I wish to state one thing very immediately. On the entire, I like EV bikes. I’ve ridden fairly a couple of, and I’ve discovered one thing to take pleasure in about each single one.
Are they excellent? No, however neither are gas-powered bikes. In reality, one factor they’ve in widespread is that I often discover issues to each take pleasure in and to be aggravated by, to various levels, about each genres of bike. That is actually simply life, is not it? Discovering what you want most, and what presents the degrees of compromises you may personally reside with.
However whereas the hopeful a part of me very a lot desires to see a utopian future the place we’re all in a position to zoom about on no matter bikes we like, powered by no matter means we deem acceptable for our functions on the time, the sensible a part of me can also be not blind to issues, each evident and potential.
So whereas it is disappointing that the US Division of Transportation suspended funding to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program in February, it is also not shocking except you have not been paying any consideration. I am penning this in the course of Might, which suggests it has been about three months (give or take) since this suspension occurred. Sorry, however that is additionally not sufficient time to completely account for the harm that is accrued over the previous handful of years.
Why do I convey this timing up? As a result of throughout the Harley-Davidson annual shareholders’ assembly in Might, the model’s CEO and LiveWire Group chairman Jochen Zeitz blamed a lack of charging infrastructure, and slower-than-expected EV adoption, for LiveWire’s ongoing woes.
And whereas these issues actually have not helped, they’re removed from the corporate’s solely issues. I say that each as somebody who appreciates EV bikes for what they’re and the place they might probably go, in addition to somebody who’s been keeping track of LiveWire gross sales because the model has existed.
As such, he misses numerous the nuance of the state of affairs. So, let’s get into it.
1. Value
When Harley-Davidson launched its very first LiveWire EV bike, most of those that rode it thought it was a lot of fun. As I’ve stated earlier than and can little question say once more, there’s one thing about immediately obtainable prime torque that places a silly grin in your face, at any velocity. Add in these mild speeder noises you may solely get from EVs, and there is positively a robust attraction for some riders.
Solely (or main) hassle was, the unique Harley-Davidson LiveWire was priced far too excessive for the youths that Harley hoped to rope into the fold with its slick new product.
In case you have not seen, successive generations of youngsters since Gen X have not precisely been all proper, financially talking. Certain, there are belief fund youngsters, however these are outliers, and are not how most of us reside our lives. As an alternative, we have grown up in occasions of huge financial uncertainty, recessions, housing crises, ballooning scholar debt crises, and extra; usually effectively earlier than we might start to hit all these pesky grownup milestones that value untold (and shortly multiplying) quantities of money.
There is not any quantity of forgoing a latte or an avocado toast that may make up for all that, nor conveniently add as much as spare funds for an almost $30,000 EV bike.
In case you have forgotten, the unique MSRP of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire was $29,799 at its debut simply 5 years in the past. Adjusted for inflation, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator tells me that is equal to $37,055.99 in April 2025 cash. Woof.
I do not find out about you, however I actually did not have a spare $30K mendacity round for a brand new bike in 2020, and I positively do not have a spare $38K mendacity round for a brand new bike in 2025. And whereas I am positive that somebody does, I am additionally moderately positive they seem to be a) not the youths that Harley hoped to reel in, and b) since they’re possible older, they’re most likely much less prone to wish to purchase an EV bike within the first place. An EV automobile, perhaps; however an EV bike? That is a giant (and distinctly completely different) ask.
In reality, if we’re speaking about comparative EV automobile pricing in 2025, it is most likely price noting that the MSRP of a model new 2025 Nissan Leaf begins at $28,140, or about $5K greater than a brand new LiveWire ONE. Need a 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV as an alternative? That begins at an MSRP of $33,600, which remains to be lower than what the OG value of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire from 2020 would value right now if adjusted for inflation.
Now, to be truthful, Harley did notice that its preliminary LiveWire pricing was an issue. That is why, when it spun LiveWire off into its own company, it additionally dropped the value on what was primarily a refined model of the OG LiveWire by about $10,000. Whereas an MSRP nearer to $20,000 was actually much more cheap than $30,000, there are nonetheless an terrible lot of different bikes you possibly can purchase for that cash, together with top-of-the-line choices from the EV bike granddaddy within the US, Zero.
Quick-forward nearer to the current, and LiveWire’s extra reasonably priced S2 vary, they usually’re nonetheless all at the least $16K. The LiveWire ONE is now again as much as $23K on the time of writing, as effectively.
As we collectively totter getting ready to a will-we, gained’t-we world recession in Might, lots of people are being very cautious about how we spend our cash proper now. That is only a truth.
2. Availability, Consistency, and Uncertainty In regards to the Future
When Harley-Davidson first launched the LiveWire EV mission, the preliminary plan was for its EV line to be bought in present Harley dealerships. There have been a number of issues with this which are simple to establish in hindsight, in fact, however that additionally most likely should not have been very tough to foretell if anybody had spent a lot time serious about the rollout forward of time.
For one factor, when individuals go to a Harley-Davidson dealership, they achieve this as a result of they wish to try the bikes that Harley is understood for. McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Starbucks are all massively standard chains, however you do not go to Starbucks and ask for 1 / 4 pounder with cheese, you understand?
Once more, as soon as Harley realized that this placement was an issue, it re-evaluated and reconsidered the way it needed to place LiveWire because it spun the model off into its personal entity. Slowly, it started to ascertain devoted LiveWire showrooms, starting in California and steadily increasing to places across the US. Ultimately, LiveWire additionally expanded to Europe, the place each governmental and public sentiment towards EVs is far more optimistic, and continues to increase extra quickly.
However LiveWire did not do that until three entire years into its existence, and once more, pricing most likely is not serving to issues any.
Then, for example you do hop on board with LiveWire, and also you plunk down your chilly, arduous money (or financing; nevertheless you roll) to convey dwelling your LiveWire ONE or chosen S2 variant. LiveWire has the may of Harley-Davidson behind it, form of, so it’d appear to be on extra stable floor when it comes to “will it nonetheless be round to service my bike in 5 years” than most startups. That, I am going to grant you.
However when you’ve been across the bike business for a couple of minutes, you already know that Harley has a sure historical past with non-Harley bike initiatives it is taken below its wing. MV Agusta. Alta. Buell.
3. Harley’s “Let’s Have Our Cake And Eat It, Too” LiveWire Method
What do I imply by this? Irrespective of how you are feeling about Harley-Davidson, there is not any denying that it is a model with huge worldwide recognition. To succeed in comparable ranges of brand name recognition in far-flung locations, you often must be in a Mickey Mouse or perhaps a Mario costume. Even individuals who’ve by no means ridden a bike and will by no means trip a bike know what Harley-Davidson is.
However longtime Harley followers largely like what they like, they usually know what they like. Whereas there are possible some exceptions who is perhaps focused on an EV produced by Harley, they’re decidedly within the minority. No group is a monolith, so there are all the time outliers. However the overwhelming majority simply need their Street Glide or Fats Boy or are comfortable to purchase and customise an outdated Sportster, please and thanks.
On the similar time, when you’re the kind of youthful rider who has a chip in your shoulder about non-riders unexpectedly lumping all bikes into the nebulous classes of “Harleys” (which means all cruisers, Harley or in any other case) and “crotch rockets” (which means all the pieces else, whether or not it is a sportbike or not), then it is true that you simply is perhaps extra open to the idea of an EV bike.
However will you need one made by Harley? That is a harder query. Perhaps, but in addition perhaps not, relying on how you are feeling about no matter psychological baggage you may affiliate with the picture of Harley-Davidson that a long time of standard tradition solely continues to strengthen. If Sons of Anarchy simply completely made you cringe, then most likely not.
Once more, that is one other a part of why Harley spun LiveWire off into its personal model. However by that point, was the harm already performed?
4. Charging Technique/Lack of Charging Infrastructure
The unique Harley-Davidson LiveWire and the next LiveWire ONE had one severe benefit over most of their premium EV bike competitors: DC quick charging functionality. See, Zero Bikes has lengthy held that Degree 2 charging makes essentially the most sense for its bikes, as a result of then riders can extra simply cost each at dwelling, and at L2 chargers within the areas they frequent.
As a really excessive instance, when you’ve been following motovlogger and round-the-world traveler Marc Travels on his world journey on a Zero SR/F, you have seen that he is managed to make it work nearly all over the place he goes with the assistance of the adapters he carries in his baggage. However he is the exception, not the rule.
As a part of its try and rein in prices and provide extra reasonably priced bikes to its prospects, LiveWire’s S2 fashions additionally use Degree 2 charging. This ends in decrease MSRPs, but it surely additionally has implications for the way, when, the place, and how briskly riders can cost their bikes. Whereas I have not ridden a LiveWire S2 in Chicago but, I can inform you from my experiences on one other Zero SR/F that when you’re within the metropolis itself, Degree 2 charging is plentiful.
However when you begin to transcend stop-and-go commuting and attempt to have extra spirited, enjoyable rides together with your EV bike that makes use of Degree 2 charging, in the end (and doubtless sooner, let’s be sincere), you’re going to need to recharge while you’re out. Which is the place vary nervousness and/or the necessity to sit in place for a few hours if you need a full cost come into play.
Should you had been planning to cease for a few hours for lunch, that is superb. However when you simply needed to get a fast chunk after which get again on the street to munch these miles and actually thrash these curves, it is a main downside.
It is not, as I stated, solely a LiveWire downside, both. Relatively, it is a case the place, when you’re making an attempt to do extra than simply commute on a bike, the mix of battery and charging know-how simply is not the place it must be to make it each sensible and moderately priced on the similar time. The Zero SR/F I was happily riding for around a year was nice enjoyable to trip spiritedly, and it carried out effectively. However on the similar time, I needed to be very strategic about how I rode it, in addition to after I stopped to prime it up, so I knew that I might get dwelling with no points.
Despite the fact that I reside and primarily trip in probably the most closely populated metropolitan areas of the nation, the additional you get away from the town limits of Chicago (and simply so we’re clear, additional away is the place the enjoyable roads are), the less and additional between these Degree 2 EV charging stations are. And that is to say nothing of the utter catastrophe that’s needing to have an app for each EV charging station ecosystem as an alternative of merely paying together with your credit score or debit card, such as you do if you put gasoline in your ICE bike.
Who has the time or persistence? EV charging infrastructure is completely a major downside for LiveWire; it is simply that it isn’t the solely one, and it is foolish to fake that it’s.
5. LiveWire’s Quarterly Gross sales Figures Have By no means Been Nice
Numerous publications have posted headlines noting the 33 complete LiveWire bikes that the corporate managed to promote throughout Q1 of 2025. However the truth is, this is not even the only worst quarter the corporate has had when it comes to gross sales (although, to be truthful, it is presently tied with one other earlier quarter as having the worst models bought quantity since LiveWire began issuing separate monetary studies).
To provide credit score the place it is due, LiveWire did lose considerably much less cash than it is reported in earlier monetary studies, in order that has to rely for one thing.
However anyway, listed below are these quarterly LiveWire gross sales figures for the previous couple of years. Hover over any of the quarterly figures to see the whole quantity for that quarter pop up on display.
Now, since LiveWire was spun off into its personal firm, the StaCyc balance bike firm (you know, for kids) has been grouped along with LiveWire for monetary reporting functions. Nevertheless, till Q2 of 2024, StaCyc’s numbers of models bought weren’t reported individually from LiveWire’s; solely revenues, earnings, and different financial figures had been. Therefore, the considerably unusual bar graph you see above.
As you may see, LiveWire’s single finest quarter up to now, when it comes to variety of models bought, was This fall of 2023. For that quarter, it recorded a complete of 514 bikes bought, which the monetary report of that point credit to the introduction of the S2 Del Mar. Whereas LiveWire clearly hoped that the introduction of the primary S2 mannequin would sign an upswing in bike gross sales, that has up to now not materialized on the time of writing.
In Q2 of 2023, LiveWire additionally bought a dismal 33 complete bikes. Will Q2 of 2025 be higher? Unclear.
6. The Competitors
Photograph by: Maeving
Till it entered liquidation earlier this year, Energica was certainly one of three premium EV bike producers scrapping for a similar slice of riders with LiveWire and Zero, at the least within the US.
Nevertheless, towards the top of 2024, British EV bike maker Maeving expanded from Britain to the US, and its trendy RM1S presents comparable specs (at the least, on paper) to the LiveWire S2 Del Mar, beginning at a way more approachable $9,995. Extra just lately, its limited-edition, head-turning Blackout RM1S got here on the scene for $11,495, which remains to be much less money than any LiveWire S2 bike presently in the marketplace.
Certain, there are a number of different EV scooters and bikes in the marketplace (assume NIU, Stark, Vespa Elettrica, and extra), however they do not actually compete head-to-head with LiveWire. And if the timeline stays true to the corporate’s intentions, LiveWire can even need to compete with the Royal Enfield Flying Flea in 2026. Given how things have been going recently for the 2 firms as in comparison with each other, I am fairly positive I do know who my cash’s on.
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