Harley-Davidson's Smart E-Bike Can Be Yours for $30,000

LAS VEGAS — Harley-Davidson is getting serious about electric bikes, revealing that its first-ever e-bike is available for pre-order and is packed with smarts, supplied by Panasonic.

Credit: Tom's Guide

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Called the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, the bike was shown off in all its glory at the Panasonic’s CES 2019 press conference, complete with news that you can pre-order it now for the princely sum of $29,799.

In the flesh (well, metal) the bike is a beauty, bearing all the hallmarks of a Harley-Davidson but with a distinct lack of a gasoline smell.

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The bike has a range of 110 miles, according to Harley-Davidson and will do 0-60 in under 3.5 seconds. Given it doesn’t have a motor, there’s no changing through gears or anything like that, which may not suit purists but it will certainly make riding a bike a whole lot easier to master for those new to (non-)motorbikes.

The Harley-Davidson LiveWire is connected, too. The reason it showed up at Panasonic’s press conference is because the bike is a collaboration with Panasonic Automotive and uses its OneConnect service.

According to Panasonic, this “makes Harley-Davidson the first mass-market manufacturer in North America with a cellular-connected electric motorcycle.”

The OneConnect technology works with Harley Davidson’s own H-D Connect tech and app, offering things like vehicle location, battery charge levels and a reminder if the bike needs servicing.

The Harley-Davidson LiveWire will be out in August and comes in three color options: Yellow Fuse, Orange Fuse and Vivid Black. At $29,799, it will be one of the most expensive electric bikes around.

Marc Chacksfield is Director of Shortlist Media and Editor-In-Chief of Shortlist. He's been a technology and entertainment journalist for 15 years and was previously UK Editor In Chief at Tom's Guide, TechRadar and Digital Camera World. He's also written for the likes of T3 and Tom's Hardware. In his spare time he tries to play guitar, PlayStation and supports Chelsea.