Back in February, 2022, we got our first glimpse at the immediate future of Harley-Davidson's LiveWire EV brand. While the LiveWire One was widely regarded as a solid step forward in bringing more combustion-familiar riders over to the electric side, no single bike can be all things to all riders. On Harley’s February 8, 2022 earnings call, CEO Jochen Zeitz (who is also the current acting CEO of LiveWire EV) officially said that LiveWire’s first middleweight electric bike would be revealed as soon as Q2 of 2022.
Fast-forward to May 2, 2022, and sure enough LiveWire EV gave everyone the tiniest peek at what it will soon be revealing in full. In February, we learned that the first of LiveWire EV’s S2 bikes (S2 are the middleweights) would be called Del Mar—a name that’s probably extremely familiar if you’re from the San Diego area and/or are up on your horse racing history.
Can these electric horses bring modern glory to the name, though? On May 10, 2022, LiveWire EV will officially unveil its newest bike to the world. A visit to LiveWire’s official website shows that its full name appears to be “S2 Del Mar LE.” Since it’s May 3 now, and full details on the model are a week away, that means we have a week to think about what we’ve learned so far.
So far, we know that the S2 bikes will showcase LiveWire EV’s Arrow drivetrain architecture, which the company has previously characterized as being both proprietary and scalable. Plans are already in place to use scaled-down Arrow iterations in what LiveWire calls “the S3 two-wheelers,” lending further weight to the idea that LiveWire won’t just stick to electrifying traditional motorcycle designs.
LiveWire EV’s choice to call the model “S2 Del Mar LE” also invites speculation about whether it will, in fact, be a limited-edition model. While vehicles in the automotive world have sometimes used “LE” in their names as a trim level indicator, rather than an explicit pronouncement that only X vehicles will be produced, that hasn’t been much of a trend in the motorcycle world.
The 15-second teaser video that LiveWire EV released ahead of the S2 Del Mar LE’s launch might add some weight to its potential identity as a limited-edition bike, though. In it, we see flashbacks to vintage AMA flat track racing with combustion bikes. Harley-Davidson has a long and storied history in flat track racing, with its combustion bikes. The Del Mar Fairgrounds is most prominently known for horseracing, but has also hosted flat track and other motorcycle racing events in the past—including an all-electric MX event I attended over the past weekend, which you’ll be reading about shortly.
In any case, if the LiveWire S2 Del Mar LE does prove to be an actual flat track bike, rather than a flat-track inspired street bike, then a limited-edition designation makes sense. Or, perhaps there will be multiple Del Mar options, with both a more readily-available (but flat-track inspired) street bike on one hand, and the LE competition-prepped version also available for those who want to test its mettle on a dirt track.
It is, of course, anyone’s guess at this point, and deciphering the actual intent behind that name is all speculation. There’s a world of possibilities out there, but we’ll soon find out what it all means on May 10, 2022.
