Harley-Davidson Hybrid Concept First Look [Commentary]

Harley-Davidson long ago discovered that the secret to survival in the motorcycle business—indeed, any business—is the ability and agility to change with the times. The Motor Company’s 120-year history is that of a living, dynamic enterprise, rather than a footnote in America’s industrial history, is because it has adapted, changed, diversified, retrenched, and advanced as necessary to reach more customers and more markets, enduring when economic problems had forced others to close their doors.

Now, 10 years since Harley-Davidson launched its first-ever electric motorcycle with Project LiveWire, gas/electric hybrid models could be on the horizon. It would potentially be one way to tamp down the backlash by some H-D faithful against the plan for going all-electric in the “coming decades” voiced by the CEO, President and Chairman of the Board Jochen Zeitz. Zeitz also heads the LiveWire electric motorcycle operation spun off from Harley-Davidson almost three years ago. Of course, that by itself would not be sufficient reason.

Some may have taken Zeitz’s comment to mean Harley-Davidson’s product line would be limited to electric motorcycles exclusively. Given the limitations of electric motorcycle capabilities and real-world user concerns such as charge time, range, and charging locations, locking The Motor Company into that single lane is an unlikely strategy for the foreseeable future.

As global energy pricing and availability changes and regulatory environments evolve, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) offer a flexible platform, offering the zero-tailpipe emissions advantage of an EV during some periods of operation, along with the longer-range capability of an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle. When the internal combustion engine is running, its charging system replenishes the battery, though a plug-in hybrid is undoubtedly possible.

I took a look at the considerations that go along with electric motorcycles recently. The electric motorcycle lane is crowded, as I found in creating our Electric Motorcycle Buyer’s Guide.

Hybrid technology has been applied to two- and three-wheel vehicles for over a decade. Examples we’ve covered include the Piaggio MP3 gas/electric hybrid scooter previewed in 2010, Can-Am’s Hybrid Spyder concept, announced in 2011, and the Honda PCX hybrid scooter in 2019. Kawasaki is already hitting the streets with the roll-out of its gas/electric hybrid 2024 Ninja 7 and Z 7.

Harley-Davidson is recruiting employees with “proven technical knowledge and design experience of existing vehicle technologies as well as awareness of future vehicle technologies, with an ability to inform future vehicle designs,” according to one job offering. This suggests that some design/engineering roles require skills and experience beyond current production platforms.

Precisely what a Harley-Davidson Hybrid might look like triggers endless avenues for wild, whimsical speculation, which is my favorite kind.

As radical a departure from Harley-Davidson tradition as a gas/electric hybrid would be, there would probably be an effort to retain some of the bedrock traditional character that has long defined the brand. Yet, a hybrid’s functional requirements require design concessions.

There are various reasons to get into the hybrid power game, including improved fuel economy, lowered tailpipe emissions, and pavement-wrinkling power boosts.

Building out the power package for a “parallel hybrid”—a vehicle that can use the ICE or electric motor separately or both simultaneously for drive power—suggests using a mid-size internal combustion engine that leaves room in the chassis for the space and weight of an electric drive-motor and larger battery.

Using an existing platform saves time and capital compared to clean-sheet development, and the V-twin configuration preserves that look of H-D lineage.

Two possibilities are the XG500 V-twin used in the discontinued Street 500, and the X500 parallel twin found in non-US Harley-Davidsons. Both motors use liquid-cooling and four-valve cylinders, with the newer X500 having a DOHC valvetrain.

The X500 is a recent result of a joint effort between Harley-Davidson and the Zhejiang QuianJiang Motor Company (QJ Motor) in China. The compact engine/transmission package, and perhaps some other components, present an interesting platform for potential adaptation for an H-D HEV.

What might such Hybrid Harleys look like? For that, I went to my old-fashioned Vemco V-Trac drafting board to sketch an XG500 V-twin concept Harley-Davidson hybrid, which I named the Concept Harley-Davidson HEV-1. The X500 parallel twin version is called the Concept Harley-Davidson HEV.

To go along with my sketch, we also offer up a speculative spec sheet that includes the two versions paired for comparison. In my imaginings of the configuration, I speculate that as many existing components as possible go into the hybrid models. Due to space needs for a larger battery, the traction motor, controller, and other elements, there is a slightly stretched chassis. There would, no doubt, be a myriad of changes that are not all that apparent. It is important to remember that we received no inside information from Harley-Davidson about any hybrid model designs. I am wingin’ it—it’s more fun that way.

Indeed, I could be completely off-base on the hybrid product theory. I have been wrong before, and I’m not afraid to admit it. Most of the specifications are based on existing model information. The other items related to the speculative hybrid versions, such as the traction motor, chassis dimensions, and weight, where I am simply speculating, guesstimating, and theorizing. It could be Harley-Davidson hybrid motorcycles on the horizon will be targeted to off-shore markets where zero-emission zones already exist or soon will.

Will Harley-Davidson develop and market any hybrid models? That’s anybody’s guess, and maybe even Harley-Davidson doesn’t know for sure.