LiveWire Del Mar Orders Electrify New York Stock Exchange

September 27 was a double-whammy kind of day for Harley-Davidson’s electrified counterpart, LiveWire. On the day, LiveWire began taking reservations for its forthcoming S2 Del Mar model, while also going live on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol LVWR.

With its listing, LiveWire became the first electric motorcycle manufacturer to be publicly traded on NYSE. Harley-Davidson CEO, Jochen Zeitz, rang the opening bell on Tuesday, as LiveWire began trading as a standalone company.

“This transaction represents a proud and exciting milestone for LiveWire toward its ambition to become the most desirable electric motorcycle brand in the world,” said Zeitz.

LiveWire managed to raise approximately $334 million in gross proceeds. That sounds like a lot, but the sum falls approximately $220 million short of the stated goal of $554 million the company set in December 2021.

A similar future shortfall could be in LiveWire’s projection of selling 50,000 EV motorcycles by 2025 and doubling that in one year by selling upwards of 100,000 units in 2026.

With all major indices trending downward, it shouldn’t be too surprising that after an initial bump on opening day, the LVWR stock price has fallen from a high of $12.27 per share to just above $7. Intrepid traders may see this as a buying opportunity, not unlike Apple stock prior to 2006.

A lot of LiveWire’s future success seems to hinge on the forthcoming S2 Del Mar model and the variants derived from its scalable ARROW architecture. A $100 deposit price gets your name attached to a production model, which are scheduled to ship in the spring of 2023. You can preorder the bike on the LiveWire website.

Once available, the Del Mar will be the second model in LiveWire’s EV portfolio. At  $16,999, it’s the more affordable model compared to the $21,999 MSRP of the ONE, LiveWire’s flagship model.

Although the two have some technological differences,  the Del Mar delivers a whopping 100 lb-ft more of claimed torque than the ONE (184 lb-ft vs. 84 lb-ft) while also weighing a claimed 131 pounds less (431 pounds vs 562 pounds). Where that torque reading is taken from seems questionable, but hopefully that figure and the weight measurement have some legitimacy because whileSure, the Del Mar is short on claimed horsepower by 20 ponies (80 hp vs. 100 hp), but for the $5,000 in savings, who wouldn’t want double the torque at a 23% lower weight for a $5,000 savings?

Maybe after the Del Mar arrives we may see the LVWR ticker symbol on the rise, floated by the promise of more and better models to come. The Del Mar’s range remains a very limited 110 claimed city miles, which translates into even less range when ridden at sustained freeway speeds.

Charge times are also exasperatingly long. The bike takes 75 minutes to recharge from 20% to 80% using an L2 charger. But maybe LiveWire knows something we all don’t when it comes to where battery and charging technologies will be by 2026.