First New Bikes From Kymco and LiveWire Partnership

It was 2021 when Harley-Davidson’s electric sibling LiveWire announced it was joining forces with the global automotive giant Kymco, as the two looked to embark on an EV partnership.

Fast forward a few years and we are now seeing the fruits of the collaboration, as two new electric maxi-scoots have broken cover. The bikes both look very different, with one being a kind of urban adventure scooter, while the other is a more sleek, sporty and less rugged-looking machine. Both bikes share a common drivetrain, though, as LiveWire’s existing S2 battery, motor, and controller combination is what powers the new bikes.

It’s the same powertrain as the one found in the LiveWire S2 Del Mar we rode last year, and while specs and performance figures for the scooters aren’t yet known, we do know how the system performs in the aforementioned Del Mar. In that bike, which is a neo-retro street tracker, the platform makes around 80bhp peak power and a stonking 193lb ft of torque. Chucking those kinds of numbers into a maxi-scooter platform, and then making it ridable, would be a formidable task, but as the output can be infinitely manipulated thanks to a lot of zeroes and ones, it’s likely the finished bikes will be tamed considerably.

The move into the electric maxi-scooter sector is an interesting one for LiveWire, not least because the segment represents a dark and gloomy place its parent company, Harley-Davidson, would dare not tread. It does though show that LiveWire is willing to go its own way and plough its own furrow the EV-sphere.

The move will see LiveWire joining BMW, which clambered into the electric urban mobility segment with its CE 04 and CE 02 electric bikes, and it’ll be going toe-to-toe with petrol bikes like the XMax 300, Burgman 400 and Yamaha TMax Tech Max. 

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