Range vs speed.

I have nothing amazing to reveal here. My longest ride starting out with 100% was 103 mi (166 km), with 14% remaining. If I had taken it down to 2% like Oldun, I believe that would have been 117 mi (188 km).
This was riding on non freeway, two lane roads, riding with traffic, mostly +/- 50 mph (80 kph) only accelerating a couple times to pass cars, not all of it was on flat ground, there were some hills.
And like Oldun, no luggage. I tuck down a lot, at anything over 40 mph (65 km), not only when I’m going for speed (I’m usually going for distance, DC chargers are few and far between where I usually ride, and L1 chargers are almost useless when your trying to compete a longer ride in one day). Don’t get me wrong, I like the esthetics of the Livewire, but somebody has to do something about the drag coefficient, because the Livewire is about as aerodynamic as a brick, so I do what I can with my body regarding frontal area.

I started to Write about battery temperature and range, because it drops off noticeably in cooler weather. but I think I will try to start another thread, unless someone beats me to it.

I keep a spreadsheet of all my charging, service, and other bike-related expenses, so I can document this post fairly well. I rarely ride the Interstates unless I really need to -- they're generally too boring and frankly, I usually have the time to take more scenic, if slower, routes. The one time (October, 2021) I did take a longish ride at speed was 66 miles from Portland, ME to North Hampton, NH. I left ME with a SOC of 100% and an estimated range of 110 miles. I had to stop in NH to charge because the bike showed an SOC of 18% and an estimated range of 18 miles, and I was ~22 miles from home -- extreme range anxiety had set in as I had only had the bike for three months and was still getting to know it. I tried to keep a steady speed of 75 MPH on this trip, however there were a couple of burst to 85 MPH to pass semis, and a couple of dips to as low as 55 MPH for traffic and tolls.

This was before I had installed the Puig windscreen; I'm 5'8"tall and weigh ~260 lbs. in my usual riding gear. I'll be reversing this trip once the weather gets warmer and I bring the ELW to our summer home in ME (there are some awesome riding roads in the midcoast region of ME!), and I'll be interested in seeing the impact of the Puig. So far it's added about 10 miles to both estimated (by the bike) and actual range achieved at my usual back roads "donking around" average speed of ~35 MPH.

I have found that if I keep off the superslabs the stated and achieved ranges line up quite well; I'd guessimate the variance to be <2%, which is close enough for jazz.

I guess this all just proves the (in)famous phrase, "Your mileage may vary."

I agree, if H-D / Livewire or who ever, is supposedly trying to build an E-motorcycle that is marketable, than they would want to improve upon their existing E-motorcycle. And one would logically think that they would be actively looking for input from those who have real world experience using their existing E-motorcycle.

I can see no evidence of such inquiries.
Which suggests to me that the agenda they are projecting, is a little different than the agenda they are hiding.

It seems they should be collecting information on the existing product so that they can improve on their next generation of E-motorcycles, which would afford their hyping the next gen as “new and improved.”

But with all the data they are able to collect from the H-D / Livewire app, maybe they have figured out that it’s more reliable and way less complicated than eliciting info from a living, breathing life form. Like Joe Friday used to say on the old Dragnet series: “just the facts, Ma’am”, I realize, I need to remember that saying, because my post are way too long.

If their agenda includes keeping everyone in the dark, then they have at least accomplished this portion of their agenda.

Sargon said:

I'd be curious to know the number of owners that use the HD app vs. those that don't Personally I've never used the app or heard a compelling reason to use it.

Click to expand...

The app has never worked in New Zealand on my ELW, and indeed it cannot even be downloaded onto a New Zealand smartphone.

When I rented an EWL in Europe, the app was not available unless I purchased. So, no.

When I rented another one in the US, I could can download the app but couldn't use it unless I owned the motorcycle. So, no.

That said, I don't miss it the app-screen interface because (a) basic philosophy about don't wanting what I can't have and (b) I assume it consumes some battery life and I already have too many fat cells that leach battery life as they are ferried around and (c) on all forms of fast transportation, I don't want my eyes off the road and other road users. I would absolutely pay top dollar for a line-of-sight heads-up display (for speed and gear, but of course wouldn't need a gear indicator for the LiveWire) such as the HUD I briefly experienced when test-driving a Jaguar iPace a while back, but I've never found one that works well on a motorcycle.

I've never wanted to listen to music while riding. For me it's about the ride not the soundtrack unless I have to supply an occasional soundtrack of profanities, phews, damns, yikes and assorted other event markers.