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What Harley-Davidson has to say about their 2020 Livewire

Their day has arrived.

Electric vehicles, that is.

I've predicted this for quite some time, but the sudden arrival surprises even me.  I frankly though that electric vehicles would really seriously start to come in, in about ten years, and their fully adoption take another ten after that.

I was wrong.

They're hear right now, and 2020 will really start being their year. 

A friend of mine who was in California last week reports seeing Tesla's everywhere.  Looking at their site, they commonly report their vehicles as having a 300 mile range.  Ford is introducing the Mustang Mach E as an electric vehicle next year, also with a 300 mile range. And Ford's introduction in that fashion is brilliant. The Mustang Mach I was the heavy duty muscle car variant of the Mustang, back when muscle cars were a thing.  The Mach E is a muscle car, albeit an electric one.  One that will be marketed like this based on its performance, and already is.

That's the same approach that Harley-Davidson is taking on its Livewire, which you can buy right now.  The heavy duty motorcycle manufacturer with bikes famous for their V Twin engine and sound are flatly claiming that the Livewire is the motorcycle of the future.  As a city bike, it remains fairly short range at 146 city miles, it boast impressive performance and looks like a Harley, and doesn't, at the same time.  On Harley's website the Livewire is the first bike you see.

It's also really expensive and none of the electric vehicles are cheap. But Tesla did manage to get their new truck down to the price that a lot of 4x4 trucks are, and their cars and Ford's Mustang are competitive.  My prediction on the Tesla truck is that it will go nowhere as it was clearly designed by people who don't know anything about actual trucks, but Ford is coming out with an electric F150 in 2020 or 2021.

Electric F150s will be city trucks at first, I suspect.  A range of 300 miles, which is about what the Tesla gets, is probably what it will get as well. But it's been designed by people who know a lot about trucks.  It'll be popular for businesses that use trucks in the city. The average plumbers truck, or light work truck, probably doesn't go 300 miles in an average day.  So it'll break in.

The remaining problem is range.  My diesel D3500 has a range of about 600 miles, twice any electric vehicle. But these are just breaking in and most people, most places, don't drive 600 miles in a day.  Within five years that 300 miles will be 400, and then higher, and then they'll rapidly start to overcome other vehicles.

At the same time, focus is really going to start to come on in regard to charging stations.  They're expanding now, and Wyoming's Senator John Barrasso pushed through a bill to fund charging stations nationwide, drawing the ire of some groups.  But beyond that, a visit to the Tesla site shows Tesla already marking options to convert your house into a solar powered, at least partially, charging station. That may seem wild, and any proposal to install solar powers on our roof, besides cost making it unfeasible, even though we have all electric utilities and heat, would meat with an objection from long suffering spouse, but that day is coming as well.