The difference between Jeep's failed e-bike and Harley Davidson's new e-bikes

Remember that time Jeep tried to sell an E-bike? It was a disaster and hopefully one that other manufacturers such as Harley Davidson will learn from.

First off, why the Jeep bike was/is a failure: It is an overpriced knock-off bike. It is essentially

the same bike that QuietKat already sells, so does Rambo E-bikes, so does Bakcou E-bikes, etc.... except Jeep/QuietKat decided to up the price to $5,899-$7,027

depending on the model because the bike now sports a Jeep sticker (maybe it's made of gold?). BTW, I would bet money that the bike was designed and manufactured by a Chinese company (as most bikes are) and then sold to QuietKat which then sold to Jeep (that's 2 middle-men if you're counting, hence the steep price).

On the other hand, I am betting that Harley Davidson designed and manufactured the Serial 1 bike frames themselves or at least under their direct supervision. That's pretty cool. First of all, because they have better styling (as much as you can with an e-bike) but at least it's something. Also, the bikes will hopefully be built with an emphasis on quality control unmatched by current offerings.

HD is offering 4 different bikes between $3.5-$5k, substantially lower than Jeep's, however, in all fairness, they appear to be completely different types of bikes. Jeep's bike uses the Bafang Ultra-Drive motor which can put out power north of 1,500 watts. Whereas HD is offering a paltry 500 watt mid-drive. Jeep's frame is also based around a full-suspension fat bike vs. HD's street-oriented frames. It would be nice to see HD offer an off-road bike in the near future.

On paper, you don't get much for your dollar as far as mechanics go on the HD offerings (same as their motorcycles, I suppose). But we will see if riding dynamics somehow validate the price. I'm just happy to see that at least HD has gotten off their ass and actually designed/ created something new unlike how Jeep pretty much just rolled over (pun intended) and rebranded an already rebranded bike, SMH.