Farewell to Harley-Davidson – the “LiveWire” electric bet faces a 72% drop in sales, generating millions in losses for the brand

They tried, at least they can hold on to that. Harley-Davidson, the preferred roar of our roads, has lost 20 million dollars trying to reinvent itself and conquer the electric terrain. LiveWire, the experiment that emerged as an alternative to their classic bikes, has sold only 33 bikes in the first quarter of 2025… (72% less than last year!!!) and of course, it has set off all the alarms in the company when, doing the math, they have lost 20 million dollars…

The numbers speak for themselves, their combustion models have held up with 38,000 units delivered in the same period. And if we look at a year earlier, 57,000 bikes compared to 117 LiveWire… Do consumers want to go electric? The answer seems clear: no.

Harley-Davidson’s failed bet

“Electric motorcycles with soul”… that no one wants. That (only the beginning, the rest is our own addition) was LiveWire’s slogan, with which Harley tried to seduce the younger public and those focused on environmentalism. The S2 Alpinista (a bike with a range of 194 km and barely 100 km on the highway) has been received by the public as something very expensive ($19,000) for the range it has, and it is that the charm of Harley-Davidson is being able to go on the road with them for hours and hours, and feel the breeze along with the roar of the engine. Once that is not there…

The losses

That is another issue to address, the LiveWire division has been an absolute disaster with losses of up to 20 million dollars in less than three months, I think it makes clear that the motorcycle consumer does not want high-cylinder electric motorcycles, they want the motorcycles of a lifetime.

Electric motorcycles: in global crisis

But this is not just Harley-Davidson’s thing, the stumble has been monumental for the others too. Other pioneering companies, like Ego, which has bikes with up to 275 km of range and charges in an hour, sold in Europe for $24,000, declared bankruptcy last year.

On the other hand, we have the Scooters, which although electric ones represent only 4% of the total market, their prominence is exclusively in cities (or in rental fleets), which makes them a very good option for small cities.

Although, the reality is what it is, we cannot make it up, the motorcycle user wants excitement, sound, long routes, and roar!!

Less polluting but harder to electrify

The electric revolution in the automotive sector has been much faster, it seems, moreover, something that has come to stay and we have accepted it very well. Something that has not happened the same in the world of motorcycles, the two-wheel world is still a territory dominated by passion and sound (above all, by the sound) where efficiency or savings do not seem to matter much to users.

In the same way, motorcycles pollute much less than cars, making users consider that there is no need to electrify motorcycles (especially when electric motorcycles almost double the price of conventional motorcycles, they have not been very clever there).

What does the future say?

The European Union, in the case of the old continent, has already announced much stricter regulations regarding noise and emissions, which worries associations like Anesdor, who protect motorcycles as a sustainable alternative for mobility.

For now, electrification has been a joke quite expensive for the kings of the two wheels, and even everything points to the future being electric, it is quite clear to us that, for now, we prefer the roar of gasoline! What do you think about? Let us know in the comments!