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BRAKING NEWS: Who’s revved up for an . . . electric Harley?

A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird: An electric Harley-Davidson draws closer Like many of you, I too was a casual fan of the show Sons of Anarchy.
Harley
Get your motor running. Head out on the highway. Looking for adventure. A soon as I charge my battery! photo Matthias Schack/Flickr

A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:

An electric Harley-Davidson draws closer

Like many of you, I too was a casual fan of the show Sons of Anarchy. It was a fun brawler with multiple characters chewing the scenery, unlikely plot twists, and plenty of blat-blat-blat Harley-Davidsons. But what if the soundtrack was ... silent?

Electric motorbikes make possibly even more sense than electric cars: it’s pretty easy to tuck both the commuter and the road warrior in the same parking space. Add in light weight and outstanding torque, and an EV bike makes a great addition to the collection.

For there to be an electric Harley-Davidson, however, appears to fly in the face of what the brand stands for. Harleys are all about that old school noise. They may be expensive, and a little thirsty, and perhaps not as relentlessly reliable as their Japanese rivals, but the Harley is an icon stretching all the way back to Easy Rider.

But the old guard can’t last forever, and Harley-Davidson has been up against some pretty tough sales numbers. That’s why they’re calling for an all-electric bike to show up within the next 18 months, something similar to the 74 horsepower LiveWire concept. If they can mix that Harley retro vibe with clean-running performance and a noise that doesn’t wake the neighbours, so much the better.

James Glickenhaus takes aim at world car altitude record

Were you aware that there’s a world altitude record for cars? I wasn’t. Not until somebody went out there and tried to break it.

SCG (Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus) is a small manufacturer run by the former movie director James Glickenhaus, one most famous for a coach-built car built off the Enzo. The Enzo is a pretty special car, but the SCG P4/5 made it pretty, which is a good trick in this age of wind tunnel aerodynamics.

Now SCG is resurrecting Steve McQueen’s Baja Boot, an off-road racer built to handle the ultra-harsh Baja peninsula. The modern version will blend a mix of Baja and Dakar racing, and as such it’s perfect to take on a record that means climbing a volcano.

The current record – set by a 1986 Suzuki Samurai of all things – sits at 6.7 kilometres of elevation. It was set at the Ojos Del Salado volcano in Atacama, Chile.

At this point, the record has sat intact for more than a decade, which makes you wonder why a manufacturer like Range Rover hasn’t taken a run at it for the publicity. If the mainstream brands have left the door open, here’s SCG to swoop in and take advantage.

Lotus CEO nicked for speeding

Don’t Speed – note the capital S. Wandering over the limit by a few kilometres per hour on a clear highway won’t get you in that much trouble, but blasting past what’s prudent like you were Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier isn’t going to get you any medals, just a ticket.

Unless, however, you happen to be the CEO of Lotus. Clocked at an alleged 164 km/h in a 112 km/h zone, Jean-Marc Gales made the case (through his lawyer) that his speeding infraction was merely a case of getting to grips with the products that Lotus makes. Call it the Test Driver defense.

Gale avoided further points on his licence, but hardly got off scot-free. A 30-day ban on driving plus the equivalent of $1,400 in fines should be sufficient to keep further “testing” to the test track.

Elon Musk’s new side project: flamethrowers

It’s hard to keep track of what ol’ Elon is up to these days. Whether it’s firing heavy rockets into space, trying to bring a prestige electric car to the masses, or building a faster-than-sound subway system, there’s certainly no ambition lacking.

What is lacking, from an objective sense, is perhaps a cohesive plan. As an example, here’s the latest Musk product: a flamethrower.

Well, sort of. What’s actually for sale appears to be a repurposed air-rifle married to the sort of butane torch roofers use. It’s the Nerf of flamethrowers, the kind of thing you’d use to roast a marshmallow.

Branded with the Boring Company logo – Musk’s fledgling tunneling company that’s as yet to attempt a commercial undertaking – the “flamethrower” sells for US$500. A brief analysis of the parts used indicates that most of this cost is pure profit, which will theoretically be used for future Musk flights of fancy.

Basically, what we’re dealing with is hype run amok. On the plus side, the people spending $500 on Musk-y flamethrowers can well afford to be parted from their money. Plus, there’s no telling what the cash will fund next. A mission to Mars? An underground colony? A giant statue of Elon, complete with Death Ray vision? I’m sure it won’t be the latter. Pretty sure. Sort of.

Watch this space for all the week’s best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to [email protected].