My newspaper published an article written by M. I. Johnson of the AP in the business section today. So now that I see the story in print, I finally believe it.
The LiveWire is getting a lot more press than Zero ever did.
The article quotes H-D President Matt Levatich as saying: "We think that the trends in both EV technology and customer openness to EV products, both automotive and motorcycles, is only going to increase, and when you think about sustainability and environmental trends, we just see that being an increasing part of the lifestyle and the requirements of riders. So nobody can predict right now how big that industry will be or how significant it will be."
Naturally the article picked up on someone's statement somewhere that the bike will go 130 miles on a single charge and only take 30 to 60 minutes to fully recharge. Oh well, it is hard to always check facts when you are in a hurry to meet a deadline.
Zero did get a mention as being the first full-size electric motorcycle to enter production in 2010 (no mention of the Electric Motorsport GPR-S, which was introduced in 2009 and was at least as full sized as the first Zero, though). Zero's vice president of Global Marketing, Scot Harden, was quoted as saying that Zero "expects" to sell 2,400 bikes this year.
The article quotes EV experts as predicting that if H-D gets into the production EV market it will be good for all electric motorcycle manufacturers as doing so will create greater awareness of and demand for electric bikes. The term "a rising tide raises all boats" was mentioned.
