Harley-Davidson in York County gets $89 million to boost E-motorcycle production

• Unnati Akhouri
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Harley-Davidson’s electric motorcycle business, LiveWire, is getting an $89 million boost to support a five-year project to increase production of zero-emissions motorcycles. 

The money is part of a $1.7 billion grant under the Inflation Reduction Act to support manufacturing of electric vehicles at 11 closed or at-risk-of-closing automobile factories across eight states.

In the grant application, Harley-Davidson said the money will be used for expanding and upgrading its 650,000-square foot facility in York County for more energy-efficient EV motorcycle manufacturing. The company is also investing the funds into waste reducing paint technologies. 

Company and union representatives did not return calls for comment. 

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said in a news release, “Harley-Davidson is one of America’s iconic manufacturers, and this funding from the Inflation Reduction Act will ensure it will be able to continue leading the global market in the years and decades to come. ”

LiveWire sold over 117 electric motorcycles through March, an 86% increase compared to last year. 

Despite that, the company said in a news release in April that LiveWire, still in its early stage of business, is incurring losses as a result of “continuing to develop new motorcycle models and investing in initiatives to reduce EV systems costs.”

Now, the company says it can use the grant to accelerate production of more affordable, faster-charging EV options by retaining and retraining its over 1,300 union workers and hiring over 125 more. 

The company expects to sell between 1,000 and 1,500 e-motorcycles by the end of this year.

The Volvo group’s facility in the Lehigh Valley and two other Volvo sites are also receiving portions of the federal money. In total, the company is getting over $208 million to convert gas-run commercial trucks to zero-emissions electric trucks. 

The Domestic Manufacturing Auto Conversion Grant program, funded by the IRA, is designed to support American workers to produce domestic hybrid, and plug-in and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles.

The awards selections under the grant do not guarantee the award money and are subject to Department of Energy’s review, which includes checking that environmentally responsible manufacturing and commitment to workers and auto-based communities are met. If not, the energy department can retract the award. 

In DOE’s press release, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said, “There is nothing harder to a manufacturing community than to lose jobs to foreign competition and a changing industry.”

If all selected sites are awarded, the program will create over 2,900 new jobs and support 15,000 union workers.

 

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