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Harley-Davidson dealers prepping for electric vehicles, installing EV chargers

Originally posted by Micah Toll | March 29, 2019 | Electrek | Original Article

Harley-Davidson isn’t necessarily the first brand people think of when it comes to electric vehicles. But the company is hard at work changing that perception as they fully embrace electric vehicles.

Harley-Davidson dealerships are preparing for EVs

Harley-Davidson’s first electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, will be hitting H-D dealerships later this summer. In preparation, dealers have begun installing EV spots and charging stations. This is something I had to see for myself, so I hopped on my own electric motorcycle and rode down for a visit. I hit up my closest dealer, which is Boston Harley-Davidson.

Despite the Northeast not being known for its exceptional year-round riding weather, the Boston dealership is one of Harley-Davidson’s largest.

Harley-Davidson EV charging stations

Upon riding into the parking lot, I didn’t have to search far for a spot. Directly in front of the large dealership is a dedicated electric vehicle spot. A shiny new Level 3 DC fast charging station adorns the spot, complete with Harley-Davidson’s iconic bar-and-shield logo. That’s not something you see every day.

“We just had it in installed two days ago,” said Sheryl Robertson, Riding Academy Manager at Boston Harley-Davidson. “It’s brand new!”

With Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire electric motorcycle coming this August, more dealerships are installing similar charging stations.

In fact they have to, at least if they want to stock the new e-bike.

Dealers across the country are preparing the same way. Harley-Davidson plans to have at least one dealer stocking a LiveWire electric motorcycle in every state in the US, plus multiple dealers in larger metropolitan areas. And any dealer that stocks the LiveWire will have dedicated LiveWire sales staff on hand at all times – not just that one guy that sort of knows something about them.

But the LiveWire isn’t available to the public yet, and as I looked around the sprawling lot I couldn’t see any other electric motorcycles. So despite my cute little CSC City Slicker having a distinct lack of Level 3 charging capability (or even Level 2, if I’m being honest), I rolled in and christened the new spot with likely its first electric motorcycle ever.

Granted my City Slicker doesn’t really compare to the $30k LiveWire. Mine barely has 65 km (40 mi) of range and the fastest I’ve ever seen on it was a blistering 79 km/h (49 mph) with a slight downhill. But it also costs a lot less than the LiveWire – nearly $30k less. Thus for now it will have to do. Even so, barely a minute after parking, I could already see three Harley guys out in the lot checking out my ride. The future is electric, people. Actually, scratch that. The present is electric!

Read the full article on the Electrek website!