[17NDNSTL]

Polaris Plans Electric Indian

Polaris planning an electric Indian motorcycle, taking on Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire - Milwaukee Business Journal

 

[JayFL459]

Wish Polaris well on this but personally don't see a market profit in it yet .. But there will come a time and guess they should be ready to compete when it does ..

 

[K2V2]

Re-badged Victory Empulse, probably with some minor improvements.

 

[Bronxbill]

Pricing will be the key. There are several electric motorcycles out there with MSRP below $20000; Indian will have to be in that range to compete

 

[wildmandmc]

yup i agree Bronxbill. $$$ will be key. just like in car's a hybrid cost way more than gas type. an average out you don't see saving until yrs later, many yrs.

 

[Morphy]

If they do let's hope it's an sub £10k bike rather than a $30k bike!!

Guy near me has an electric something or other - japa-zuki-kwaka thing. Works well, cost him a can of beans.
Gets him from here to uni and back every day, needs charging twice a week (especially on Sunday night after a weekend of zapping about.
That's the market they need to aim for. Low cost, cheap to run, low insurance.

But $30k - that's just for the elites arseholes and the green fat-cat politicians to parade about on doing their virtue signalling.

 

[theMucker]

More power to 'em. (no pun intended) I couldn't care less, 'cause I'll never own one. But the OEMs already know that I don't fit in the demographic that will be interested in electric bikes. Dare I say that MOST here are probably in the same frame of mind? Yep. I dare say so.

 

[hakuin]

For the right price, it would be an awesome second Indian.


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[chiefdano8]

For the right price, it would be an awesome second Indian.


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Agreed. Keep it cheep and it would be a great everyday ride bike. Commuter etc

 

[J Backlund]

Honda will probably sit back a year or two, watch Harley and Indian flog about with their bloated-cost electric brag-bikes, then drop a $3500 Buzzer-Cub onto the market that'll run 200 miles at 70 mph and charge in 15 minutes.

It'll be like 1965 all over again.

 

[Christopher_2]

Honda will probably sit back a year or two, watch Harley and Indian flog about with their bloated-cost electric brag-bikes, then drop a $3500 Buzzer-Cub onto the market that'll run 200 miles at 70 mph and charge in 15 minutes.

It'll be like 1965 all over again.

LOL,, you are probably close, the real issue with charging is the current a single 110 volt outlet can put out. Zero has one of the best solutions by letting you plug into two outlets on different breakers if available, which will allow you to charge twice as fast. LIPO batteries can charge up fully without pushing them in 10 hours from dead. A good set that is properly cooled can charge in 5 hours. Just like a car you don't necessarily need a full tank, LIPO batteries don't have a memory so you can add a 1/4 charge. I think the key is going to be an inexpensive charge station. Something like a pay meter electric companies use on houses, that require payment to keep electricity on.

 

[Baron58]

The only way we see the come to fruition is if the Livewire and other electrics are successful in large numbers. It is way too early to tell. Electric vehicles are still more of a novelty, not counting golf carts and smaller utility vehicles. Big oil has a vested interest for it to stay that way. Tesla has never made money ever and most of it was their own doing. Hybrids do okay because they are priced right and they have gas engines for the range. But this talk of electric vehicles coming out was rampant over 10 years ago, then big oil lowered prices and everyone forgot about it. I see many companies jumping into the electric world, but I don't see the sales numbers amounting significantly unless we have vehicles that have the same range as gas and can be re-charged in a matter of minutes and the cost is equal to gas.

 

[Gort]

Re-badged Victory Empulse, probably with some minor improvements.

Which is a re-badged Brammo to start with.

 

[IceAge]

My personal friend works and runs the service department for a BMW, Triumph, Zero and now Indian Dealer. He claims the Zero battery issues and electric issues are more rampant then other brands issues.

 

[JayFL459]

yup i agree Bronxbill. $$$ will be key. just like in car's a hybrid cost way more than gas type. an average out you don't see saving until yrs later, many yrs.

Even if kept one long enough to enjoy the savings would not have enjoyed it anyway ..

 

[art.kondakov]

Re-badged Victory Empulse, probably with some minor improvements.

In view of latest patents news it will be named "Rempulse"

 

[Sphinx327]

I have no desire to convert to electric. The only reason I would have an electric, would be to horse around in a parking lot with wheelies and burnouts. I imagine the torque that can be produced would make easy work of such fun.

 

[reinie]

Right now is a bad time to launch an electric vehicle. The tax credits are evaporating and gas prices are down. The current administration favors fossil fuels over alternative energy. It would be a lose-lose situation to do so at this time.

 

[.3578]

That article is from almost two years ago, March of 2017. Indian is going to sit back and see what the market wants in e-motorcycles, and then decide on a design, use the latest electrical powertrain and battery, and price it accordingly with what the market is willing to pay. If Indian has learned anything, it's that you don't have to be first, you just have to be better.

 

[Ratfish]

I can see electric bikes, if they can keep the costs down, more useful in the extremely crowded cities in Asia where the local governments can give local subsidies to reduce their crazy smog levels.