The Electric Motorcycle Fire Sale Is Here
Sometimes the motorcycle industry hands you an observation that cannot be ignored.
In August it was the failure of premium electric motorcycles, courtesy of LiveWire. They, along with Zero and Can-Am, are all quietly admitting through savage price cuts and incentives what riders have known for a long time: premium electric motorcycles as a category have not worked. Not commercially, not culturally, not by any metric that matters to a manufacturer’s balance sheet. The proof is not in some zinger by an influencer or headline in a press release. It’s in the fire sale.
To see where this story started, visit: The $20,000 Electric Motorcycle Was the Wrong Bet
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The Signal Above the Noise
Let’s look at LiveWire, because nobody has been more honest, inadvertently, about the scale of the product-market fit problem than LiveWire. Introduced as a Harley-Davidson concept in 2013, then launched six years later in 2019 at $29,800, the LiveWire was cast as a halo vehicle signalling the hundred-year-old legacy company’s confidence in technology and the future.
In the seven years since, LiveWire was spun off as a separate company, had a CEO leave prematurely, been largely re-absorbed into Harley, received a NYSE delisting notice, and that same motorcycle - largely unchanged - is now being sold for $13,999. That’s not a sale. That’s a 53% haircut on the original sticker, which is closer to 60% once you take into account inflation.
A review of major motorcycle sale aggregator websites reveals more than sixty LiveWire motorcycles for sale worldwide with less than 1,000 kms on the odometer. Dealers in America, Canada and Europe have new or nearly new models on showroom floors that are four and five model years old listed with 40%-60% discounts, just to clear floor space.
With the factory now offering identical 2026 model year motorcycles at similar prices, those older unsold units, plus all second hand ones, will face even greater depreciation.
Earlier this month, Zero Motorcycles started running ads in Europe that offered €500 to anyone who bought one of their larger models as their “first motorcycle”, in addition to the steep discounting that has been as high as $16,000 on $29,000 motorcycles. Zeros advertising earlier this year, on their own website, listed 2023, 2024, and 2025 models as available with prices slashed by 30%.
Zero introduced the X-Line-up of lightweight off-road and dual-sport models in the $6,000 price range last year, hoping to compete in the high-demand sector dominated by Surron and Talaria. When a company that spent two decades declaring itself the premium segment pivots its growth strategy to bicycle-adjacent price points, it tells you where the demand actually is.
Finally, there is Can-Am, the newest and, on paper, most credible entrant. The Pulse and Origin launched in 2024 with a lot of solid engineering behind them, all in-house-developed, fully liquid-cooled powertrains, batteries, and automotive-grade UX and software features. They arrived at $13,999 and $14,999. Within six months of their model year, Can-Am was running factory rebates as high as $4,000 and $5,000. Nearly 50% off, on brand new units.
Not clearance stock. Launch-year inventory. This is not aggressive promotion to capture market share. It is a manufacturer discovering in real time that the price didn’t match the value proposition, and moving quickly before the depreciation curve did more damage.
Here is the point that both EV cheerleaders and naysayers get wrong: this isn’t proof that electric motorcycles can’t work. It’s proof that North American OEMs haven’t accepted the motorcycle market for what it is, rather than what they want it to be.
We’ve already looked at why the $20,000 electric motorcycle was the wrong bet. The more interesting question now is what happens when the manufacturers themselves start admitting it through the price tag.
The Market Is Talking
LiveWire sold 653 motorcycles in all of 2025, across two models. Sales data for Zero and Can-Am are unavailable, but based on the near total lack of current model year promotion, the factory fire sale discounts and the unsold, dust-covered units languishing in dealer showrooms, the available evidence suggests volumes are likely in the low thousands.
The Stark Varg, at $13,900, is probably the ceiling for premium, high-performance electric motorcycling right now. Stark has grown rapidly, shipping over 10,000 units and turning a profit, while winning accolades from electric motorcycle fans and doubters alike. The Varg looks, feels, and runs better than the equivalent 450cc motocross and supermoto rivals powered by gasoline.
In the middle are retro-classic roadsters which sell the image of café racers to beginners, but with a twist-and-go ease of use that a conventional combustion motorcycle can’t touch. They are also priced to match their neophyte audience’s expectations.
Off-road, lightweight electric motorcycles are a huge hit in the US. When the electric motorcycles are being called out by the Wall Street Journal, the market signal is no longer a hypothesis. It’s a blaring air horn.
The Inevitable Becomes Unavoidable
Examining the evidence: sales performance, manufacturer behaviours, market reactions, mainstream and specialty press, the conclusion seems obvious. Premium electric motorcycles, as they exist today, have not matched the expectations of buyers, period.
Pricing is an issue, but it is far more than that. The experience that motorcyclists got from LiveWire, Can-Am and Zero was nowhere near the expectations set by the lofty marketing promises set by those manufacturers.
The problem is not electrification. The customers who are driving electric motorcycle sales worldwide are attracted to the ease of use, lower operating cost, modern technology and a desire for casual motorcycling. They do not want to invest in a techno-hobby horse that costs as much as a compact family car.
The Stark Varg nails performance. It is simply better than an equivalent gas-powered off road motorcycle in its niche. The River electric utility moped is designed in India, for India, and backed by Yamaha. It sells practicality and assurance. Yadea, the world’s largest electric motorcycle manufacturer, delivers unrivalled value for money.
But LiveWire, Can-Am and Zero miss on practicality, value, performance, and quality, and try to make up for it by spinning tales of heritage and adventure that the user cannot replicate or doesn’t care about.
They were wrong. And they ought to have known better. Motorcycle sales are not driven by fever dreams, no matter how many times one reads Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, or attends a craft beer-soaked hipster bike event.
Simply designing a niche electric motorcycle and pricing it like it was a Hermès bag never followed that logic. This is why the serious manufacturers have not gone there. Yamaha, Honda, Niu, Yadea, TVS, Hero and other global OEMs all focused on electric motorcycles that meet the needs of commuters, and only now are pressing upwards as the technology improves.
TL;DR: Electrify the motorcycle all you want. Just don’t ask consumers to pay Ducati superbike money for off-brand commuter bike capability. Manufacturers must meet the market where it is, and not demand it meet their projection spreadsheets. No one is buying into these OEM fantasies.
Ride safe, folks.
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