Joe Biden Paid $89 Million To Boost Electric Motorcycle Production. It's Failing.

In 2024, President Joe Biden’s Energy Department awarded $1.7 billion in grants to increase domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles (E.V.s), including $89 million to Harley-Davidson to expand its manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania for electric motorcycle production. At the time, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm claimed the funding would “ensure that our automotive industry stays competitive.” Then-Sen. Bob Casey (D–Pa.) championed the grant, with his office declaring that it would “help Harley Davidson make investments necessary to hit its goal of producing more zero-emission motorcycles.”

More than a year later, it appears that this funding plan is failing.

Despite the $89 million in government subsidies provided to LiveWire, which was initially launched as part of Harley-Davidson but has since spun off, the company has sold only 55 electric motorcycles in the second quarter of 2025, a 65 percent decline compared to the same quarter in 2024. In the second quarter of 2025, LiveWire’s electric motorcycle business yielded $800,000 in revenue. Overall, in the second quarter of 2025, the company generated $5.9 million in consolidated revenue from its electric motorcycles and electric bikes.

LiveWire has operated at a loss since its founding in 2021. After peaking at $46.83 million in 2022, annual revenue has declined for two consecutive years, dropping 43 percent from the company’s peak year in 2022. The company has never had a profitable quarter, a trend that is expected to continue through 2025.

While it’s projected sales of up to 3,000 electric motorcycles over the past two years, LiveWire has sold only 2,418 electric motorcycles since its inception in 2021. Last year, the company sold just 612 motorcycles, falling short of its 2023 sales of 660 machines and well below its initial 2024 projection of 1,000 to 1,500 bikes. Despite a history of missing sales targets, LiveWire again projected sales of 1,000 to 1,500 electric motorcycles for 2025.

A significant appeal of gas-powered motorcycles lies in the owner’s ability to customize their bike. By design, electric motorcycles are quiet and difficult to modify.

Although the upfront cost of LiveWire electric motorcycles is significantly lower than most new Harley-Davidson gasoline models, LiveWire’s financials suggest that the market has clearly expressed its preference. The $89 million grant to Harley-Davidson is only one in a long list of failed, costly green energy projects funded by the Biden administration, which also includes a $9.63 billion loan to Ford to build three manufacturing plants for the company’s E.V. batteries in Tennessee and Kentucky. Only one of these factories has been built—and has yet to roll out batteries—while the other two have no set opening date.

In May, amid a continued decline in sales, Harley-Davidson suspended its full-year financial forecast due to the imposition of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. If the company’s second-quarter financial outlook is any indication of future performance, there will be little relief to come. In the second quarter of 2025, Harley-Davidson’s revenue dropped 19 percent year-over-year, with global motorcycle shipments down 28 percent. To date, tariffs have cost the company $17 million in 2025.

Like many other projects before it, government funding has not helped LiveWire turn a profit. It has instead artificially prolonged its financial runway and potentially discouraged disruptive thinking and entrepreneurial spirit.

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