Harley-Davidson halts production on the LiveWire electric motorcycle due to issues with the charging system announced on October 14th. 

The largely anticipated LiveWire production and shipment has now stopped after discovering problems through their final quality checks. The company told the Wall Street Journal that LiveWire motorcycles are still safe to ride, but is asking the few customers who have already received their bikes to only charge them at Harley-Davidson dealerships. The motorcycles had only started delivery to dealers on September 27. 

The manufacturer released a brief statement on Monday. “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.” 

The company indicated that the motorcycles should only be charged at dealerships. This leads us to believe that the issue could be caused by the lower 110-voltage Level 1 charger; the charging system used with a standard wall outlet. With this being a hinderance in more remote areas with riders not near a dealership, we can’t help but wonder how the rumoured Long Way Up might be going for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman.

The manufacturer has not released a timeline of when production may start again.