Electric Baggers ............
Popular Reply
Jun 1, 2022, 04:56 AM
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 309
Likes: 186
Probably never.
As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. I don't imagine it will be too long before California will be ready --- sort of -- to mandate electric vehicles. I say "sort of" because I imagine they will have infrastructure in terms of charging stations soon enough, but they are already short of electricity and seem disinclined to increase generation capacity. Quite the contrary actually, they are this close to shutting down their last remaining nuclear plant. Hard to imagine they are going to tolerate folks like us drawing down power just to ride around for no reason, especially on big nasty Harleys, quiet though they may be. Rest of the country is doing its best to follow California over that cliff, as fast as it can.
HD boutiques will be selling overpriced Chinese-made T-shirts ("Lucky Birth Wild Be") to pajama boys zipping around town on electric Vespas and the rest of us will be trying to figure out how to bust out of re-education camp so we get to the Free Republic of Texas and ride the same bikes we are riding now.
As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. I don't imagine it will be too long before California will be ready --- sort of -- to mandate electric vehicles. I say "sort of" because I imagine they will have infrastructure in terms of charging stations soon enough, but they are already short of electricity and seem disinclined to increase generation capacity. Quite the contrary actually, they are this close to shutting down their last remaining nuclear plant. Hard to imagine they are going to tolerate folks like us drawing down power just to ride around for no reason, especially on big nasty Harleys, quiet though they may be. Rest of the country is doing its best to follow California over that cliff, as fast as it can.
HD boutiques will be selling overpriced Chinese-made T-shirts ("Lucky Birth Wild Be") to pajama boys zipping around town on electric Vespas and the rest of us will be trying to figure out how to bust out of re-education camp so we get to the Free Republic of Texas and ride the same bikes we are riding now.
Last edited by AbqDave; Jun 1, 2022 at 05:00 AM.
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 309
Likes: 186
Probably never.
As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. I don't imagine it will be too long before California will be ready --- sort of -- to mandate electric vehicles. I say "sort of" because I imagine they will have infrastructure in terms of charging stations soon enough, but they are already short of electricity and seem disinclined to increase generation capacity. Quite the contrary actually, they are this close to shutting down their last remaining nuclear plant. Hard to imagine they are going to tolerate folks like us drawing down power just to ride around for no reason, especially on big nasty Harleys, quiet though they may be. Rest of the country is doing its best to follow California over that cliff, as fast as it can.
HD boutiques will be selling overpriced Chinese-made T-shirts ("Lucky Birth Wild Be") to pajama boys zipping around town on electric Vespas and the rest of us will be trying to figure out how to bust out of re-education camp so we get to the Free Republic of Texas and ride the same bikes we are riding now.
As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. I don't imagine it will be too long before California will be ready --- sort of -- to mandate electric vehicles. I say "sort of" because I imagine they will have infrastructure in terms of charging stations soon enough, but they are already short of electricity and seem disinclined to increase generation capacity. Quite the contrary actually, they are this close to shutting down their last remaining nuclear plant. Hard to imagine they are going to tolerate folks like us drawing down power just to ride around for no reason, especially on big nasty Harleys, quiet though they may be. Rest of the country is doing its best to follow California over that cliff, as fast as it can.
HD boutiques will be selling overpriced Chinese-made T-shirts ("Lucky Birth Wild Be") to pajama boys zipping around town on electric Vespas and the rest of us will be trying to figure out how to bust out of re-education camp so we get to the Free Republic of Texas and ride the same bikes we are riding now.
Last edited by AbqDave; Jun 1, 2022 at 05:00 AM.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,575
Likes: 3,171
From: Lake Geneva WI
wont be until well after charging a battery takes less than 15 minutes and you get at least 200 miles to a charge at highway speeds and there's a large network of charging stations.
Last edited by 2500hdon37s; Jun 1, 2022 at 10:08 AM.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,974
Likes: 5,478
From: Woodlands, MB, Canada
Baggers are generally meant to be touring bikes. (Grand American Touring bikes as Harley calls them)..
The problem with an electric touring bike is going to be the range. Considering bikes like the Live Wire are only good for around 150 miles, I can't see them getting more than 300 miles out of a touring model. Not much fun if you want to try a coast to coast trip.
I suppose some people just want a big bike.. Even though most of their driving is just around the city... In that case they'll get by, but then cost is another issue. Battery technology makes electric bikes very expensive. (The Live Wire is almost $30G). I can see tourers like plain Jane electric Road Glides going for CVO prices.
The problem with an electric touring bike is going to be the range. Considering bikes like the Live Wire are only good for around 150 miles, I can't see them getting more than 300 miles out of a touring model. Not much fun if you want to try a coast to coast trip.
I suppose some people just want a big bike.. Even though most of their driving is just around the city... In that case they'll get by, but then cost is another issue. Battery technology makes electric bikes very expensive. (The Live Wire is almost $30G). I can see tourers like plain Jane electric Road Glides going for CVO prices.
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Novice
Joined: Aug 2021
Posts: 22
Likes: 7
From: Calgary
I would have thought the weight penalty associated with electric would have made them put it in a bagger first instead of doing the live wire but maybe the batteries are not ready for prime time yet to get the range?