New spark at LiveWire

KARIM DONNEZ HAS BECOME chief executive of HarleyDavidson’s majority-owned LiveWire Group electric motorcycle spin-off, after Harley supremo Jochen Zeitz resigned following an agreed launch period. However, Zeitz will continue as chairman of LiveWire’s board of directors.

Commenting on his departure, Zeitz said: “Having successfully stood-up LiveWire as a brand and listed the company on the NYSE, I’m excited to pass the baton to Karim. He is an entrepreneurial business leader with a track record of driving transformational growth through both strategy development and implementation. The board and I look forward to Karim realising the potential of LiveWire, as we continue on the company’s journey to lead electrification.”

Donnez joins LiveWire from Canadian powersports company Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), where he was most recently president of its marine group. He performed various roles since joining the company in 2015, including senior vice president with strategy, business development and transformation responsibilities.

Prior to working for BRP, Donnez held leading positions at Rio Tinto, latterly as general manager of refinery and energy for Rio Tinto Kennecott. His career began at Irish-American professional services company Accenture, based in Dublin, and he holds an MSc in engineering from Arts et Métiers ParisTech and an MBA from HEC Montréal.

Japanese big four set up hydrogen project

Aquick look at the battery electric bike sales in these pages will tell you we’re still some way off them replacing petrol. Some are touting hydrogen as an answer to carbon-free internal combustion power, and while it’s not an easy, problem-free solution, it does seem to be worth a look.

So the big four Japanese firms – Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha – have sought and received approval from the Japanese government to form a technical research association called HySE (Hydrogen Small Mobility & Engine Technology), that will aim to develop hydrogen-powered engines for bikes and scooters.

Kenji Komatsu, chairman nominee of HySE and executive officer at Yamaha’s Technical Research & Development Centre, said, “We are extremely pleased to announce the planned formation of the association. There are many challenges in developing hydrogen-powered engines, but we hope to see the association’s activities advance the fundamental research to meet those challenges. We are committed to this endeavour with a sense of mission to preserve the use of internal combustion engines, which epitomize the long-time efforts that our predecessors have invested.”

The new association won’t produce short-term results, but it’s encouraging to see that the big firms are looking for new technological solutions other than big, heavy, expensive batteries, not yet suitable for mainstream leisure motorcycle use.