We knew that Harley-Davidson filed a trademark for the product name “Revelation” and know we have confirmation that it will actually be used. No, it’s not about a spectacular new Harley – Revelation is simply the commercial name under which the current project LiveWire will be marketed. Yes, the electric bike that simply couldn’t.
It’s been years since the bar and shield company revealed LiveWire announcing that they were about to add an electric beast to their stable. No massive cheers back in the day, none now; even with this rebranding of the LiveWire, it looks like this bike simply fails to draw enough attention. H-D has been sliding on a downward spiral for years now, and they have great expectations (read hopes) from the electric bike they’ve been working on for such a long time. For now, it appears that they’re still short of the creative resourses to make this move count.
The initial iteration of the LiveWire has a laughable 53-mile (85 km) mixed range, with riding it with a heavier hand almost killing any desire to leave your neighborhood. If H-D changed these figures drastically, we figure out they’d already bragged about it.
In actuality, performance specs versus the figure on the invoice is the most important thing customers are looking for these days. With electric two-wheelers, a brand’s name lost almost all its weight, especially as startups surface excellent machines with awesome performance and (almost) decent price tags every month or so. If H-D has plans to play it heavy on the heritage card, they might be wrong, as Revelation would most likely fail. Maybe not entirely, but it just won’t take serious flight, as the V-Rod didn’t.
Making things even funnier is seeing H-D in search of some key personnel for Revelation. The first job they want to fill is the Electric Vehicle (EV) Lead Product Manager. Rather strange for a product that’s slated to hit the showrooms in some 12 months or so, isn’t it? Developmental Services Engineer for Electric Vehicles and multiple Electric Vehicle Systems Engineer jobs are also available.
Frankly, we’d love to see Milwaukee take a bold step forward and blow us away with a bike that turns heads and makes people reach for their phones to check their loan opportunities. With no updates on the progress of the LiveWire/Revelation, the only thing that sticks with it is the heavy, expensive, short-range e-motorcycle that looks decent when Scarlett Johansson rides it wearing a leather catsuit in Marvel movies.
C’mon, MoCo, grow an electric pair!
READ MORE on electric motorcycles: CSC City Slicker