Harley-Davidson halts LiveWire production due to charging issue

Update, October 18: Harley-Davidson announced that production and deliveries of the LiveWire have resumed and "the non-standard condition identified on one motorcycle was a singular occurrence. We take pride in our rigorous quality assurance measures and our drive to deliver the world’s best motorcycles." So after reams of media coverage, it appears the LiveWire story was a lot of nothing.

The company recently began delivering the first electric LiveWires to Harley-Davidson dealers who signed up to sell it and to customers who had pre-ordered the $29,799 motorcycle. Harley-Davidson issued the following statement:

"As we lead in the electrification of motorcycles, we have delivered our first LiveWire motorcycles to authorized LiveWire dealers. We recently discovered a non-standard condition during a final quality check; stopped production and deliveries; and began additional testing and analysis, which is progressing well. We are in close contact with our LiveWire dealers and customers and have assured them they can continue to ride LiveWire motorcycles. As usual, we’re keeping high quality as our top priority."

While the statement provided to Common Tread did not include details on the charging problem, other news outlets reported that owners who already have taken delivery of LiveWires are being told they can use the DC fast-charging option but not Level 1 charging. For most owners, Level 1 means plugging your LiveWire into a home AC outlet to charge it overnight, using the onboard charger. Being unable to use Level 1 charging would create the inconvenience of forcing owners to use public DC fast-charging stations instead of charging at home. Harley-Davidson dealers that sell the LiveWire are required to provide free Level 3 DC fast charging. Harley-Davidson says the LiveWire's battery can recharge to 80 percent in 40 minutes or 100 percent in an hour using Level 3 charging.

The production halt follows a recent report by the news agency Reuters, which contacted many of the Harley-Davidson dealers selling the LiveWire and reported that the electric motorcycle is not attracting new customers as hoped, largely due to the $29,799 price.

Harley-Davidson's U.S. sales have been declining for the last four years. The company is scheduled to report its financial results for the third quarter on October 22.