Over the weekend, Harley-Davidson Homecoming 2025 touched down at the Motor Company's HQ in Milwaukee. Thankfully, although the Friday concert was canceled after only a few acts had the chance to play due to weather, no emergency weather declarations touched down as well.
Instead, something else completely unexpected rolled out at the event. Did you have two entire new LiveWire EV motorcycle concepts on your H-D Homecoming 2025 Bingo card? Neither did we, but here they are!
Be sure to visit that Instagram post and swipe through to see a bunch more photos straight from LiveWire. The text of the post gives a few key details: That these are 125cc equivalent EVs, that one is meant for trails and one is meant for streets; that they have "near 30" seat heights," as well as performance of around zero to 30 mph in 3 seconds and a top speed of 53 mph, as well as a range of around 100 miles on a single charge.
That's all well and good. But you know what really stands out about this announcement? One line. "The bikes are powered by two removeable batteries that can be recharged or exchanged."
That's right: A LiveWire (or really, two LiveWires) with removable, swappable batteries. Kymco Ionex-powered LiveWire S3 platform, is that you?
For those who've been following LiveWire developments, you may recall that LiveWire entered into a manufacturing and development partnership agreement with Taiwanese motorbike maker Kymco a few years back. While LiveWire's most recent motorbikes have all been based around its S2 Arrow platform, the S3 bikes were always meant to be small-displacement-equivalent machines, possibly built with swappable batteries.
In fact, when we had the chance to talk with Kymco CEO Allen Ko in 2023, shortly after the company had introduced its Kymco Ionex EV platform with battery-as-a-service swappability at the core of its architecture, he directly stated to RideApart that "Kymco's Ionex technology is expected to be the driving force between LiveWire and Kymco for smaller electric motorbikes."
Everyone's Aiming At Small EV Trail Bikes Again, For Good Reason
Admittedly, there's a certain elephant in the room in this category, and its name is Sur-Ron. For lightweight, low-cost EV trail bikes, the company has been one of the forerunners in this space for a long time. But it wasn't that long ago that California's own Zero Motorcycles formally announced the XE and XB, which would be the brand's first sub-$10K (and yes, that's USD, folks) EV motorcycle offerings.
The Zero XB also has a swappable battery, a claimed top speed of around 50 mph, a 32.7-inch seat height, a claimed curb weight of 139 pounds, and a suggested MSRP of US $4,395. Range on the XB is only a claimed 40 miles on a single charge, however; so, if LiveWire's little guy is able to get 100 miles (or somewhere close) and come in at a competitive price, that will make the comparison that much more interesting.
The Zero XE is built to be more off-road focused, and also has a swappable battery like the XB does. Claimed range on a single charge is a slightly better 65 miles, power tops out at 20.1 hp (or 15.5 kW), and max top speed is 53mph. Seat height is a slightly taller 35.4 inches, curb weight is a slightly heavier 223lbs, and pricing is a slightly heftier US $6,495.
Now, the two LiveWires that the company just announced don't have a lot of technical information available yet, because they're still concepts. The preliminary info that the company published in its Instagram post seems to lean more toward specs similar to the XB, not the XE (although if LiveWire's range estimate is anywhere close to correct, they'll potentially outclass both of the junior Zero offerings in that department, if nothing else).
Designwise, my initial impression is that the LiveWire concepts resemble adorable minimotos a bit more, while the Zero XB and XE have a more purpose-built, serious dual sport look about them. There's nothing wrong with either type of bike, to be clear; right tool for the job and all that. You wouldn't try to put a screw back in place with a hammer, right? At least, I hope you wouldn't.
But what do you think about these latest LiveWire developments? I'm sure you probably have some thoughts, so feel free to share them in the comments!
