Harley-Davidson Could Have Had An Electric Bike 40 Years Ago If They Listened To This Engineer

Harley-Davidson is not a strange name for those who know about motorcycles. This brand is always at the forefront of applying the latest and most advanced technologies to its motorbike products effectively. One of the best examples is LiveWire, which is Harley-Davidson's recently launched electric motorbike. The motorcycle manufacturer from the US has bravely launched electric bike models while their competitors are still hesitant about these plans.

An engineer at Harley-Davidson invented a fully electric motorcycle 40 years ago

However, LiveWire is not the first electric motorcycle ever made in the company. The talented engineers of Harley-Davidson have developed electric motors with power transmission systems 40 years ago. It can be said that this is the first fully electric motorbike made by the engineers of this company, but it took Harley-Davidson 40 years to catch up to this idea.

Steve Fehr’s original drawing

The idea came from an engineer of the Transitron Electric Corporation who believed Harley-Davidson should develop a fully electric motorbike. Steve Fehr from Honolulu, Hawaii was that engineer, he began to develop his idea by himself in order to gain the company's consent.

He could not successfully complete this project alone, so he set up a research team consisting of his colleagues at Transitron. A 1971 Harley-Davidson XLH Sportster was selected by the research team to convert from gasoline-powered vehicles to full electric-powered vehicles.

The instrument panel is redesigned to be more suitable and attached to the handlebars

They removed the 900cc gasoline engine in the original bike and replaced it with a 24V 90A electric motor. They then connected the engine to a 4-speed automatic transmission by using a belt drive. A chain drive directly connected to the rear wheel was added to the engine.

An exclusive controller had been added into the bike. Besides, below the electronic speedometer and tachometer, gauges were used to measure the current and the voltage is attached.

The electric car is provided with four lead-acid batteries with deep cycles that make the bike weigh up to 276 kg, but at that time, the researchers did not have many options in choosing a more suitable battery. However, this battery also provided the car with incredible energy when it could reach speeds of 80 kilometers per hour and it was able to accelerate from 0 to nearly 50 kilometers per hour within 5 to 6 seconds.

A series of four deep-cycle lead-acid batteries

Researchers in the group were expecting Harley-Davidson's attention because with the capital and resources of the company, they could refine and make this car much more efficient. However, this project did not receive much impression from the company, possibly due to its heavy weight making it difficult for them to sale.

However, this invention caught the attention of the famous Harley-Davidson designer - Brooks Steven. The duo teamed up and made this bike able to withstand the 579-kilometer long road experiment in Wisconsin, which is not far from Harley-Davidson headquarters.

With $70,000 invested in this project, this was the farthest step they took. There was no investor, partner or anyone in the technology industry who was interested in this project.

1978 electric Harley-Davidson motorcycle

This car was put into Brook Steven's Museum and was still there until the designer died in 1995. It was then sold for $11,000 at RM Sotheby's auction in 2014.

Most recently, at CES 2019, Harley-Davidson launched the first true electric motorbike and had products available for pre-sale. Seems like Steve has been ahead of Harley-Davidson's plans for 40 years. Although the designs of Steve Fehr and Brooks Steven were not available to people at the time, it can be said that LiveWire is now fulfilling the legacies that they leave behind.

Harley - Davidson LiveWire