The first test of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire S2 Del Mar: big bikes, but for the city

As we had anticipated, yesterday LiveWirepractically a rib of Harley-Davidsonhas reopened pre-orders for its second electric motorcycle, the S2 Del Mar. At the time of writing, the dreaded “click day” has not yet materialized, and the bike is still available, perhaps thanks to the estimated deliveries in 2023, and the launch for now only in the United States.
In the meantime LiveWire has organized the first tests, for the benefit of the local press, and therefore the first tests are starting to emerge, also in video format. Like the one we report here, by the newspaper Electrek and specialist Micah Toll:
On the occasion of these first tests, LiveWire also revealed some more details, specifying the autonomy, up to 177 km per single charge, in an urban environment. The aforementioned tester traveled a mixed route of 64 km, including the motorway, consuming 55% of the battery, and therefore estimates a mixed range of about 117 km. LiveWire still does not reveal the battery capacity, which is expected to hover around 10 kWh.
An interesting comparison with the first LiveWire bike, the One, is decidedly more powerful and bulky, but does not gain too much ground in acceleration, thanks to the lower weight of the S2, 195 kg against 254 kg. Despite the weight less, according to the American journalist, the bike doesn’t look compact liveand therefore does not give the impression of being on a small motorcycle, as often happens with those of Chinese production.
Unfortunately, it should be noted that Harley-Davidson and LiveWire failed to deliver on their price promises. The $ 15,000 mentioned at the presentation stage, perhaps due to inflation that has affected many sectors, they became $ 16,999. Always considerably less than the $ 22,799 it takes to take a LiveWire One home, but perhaps still a lot for an urban motorcycle or a daily home-work trip, also considering the lack of direct current recharge and the 75 minutes it takes to go from 20% to 80%.