Ewan arrives in Los Angeles to a crowd of fans and family, 3 months after departing Tierra del Fuego.

in Arizona they were able to step it up to 300 miles a day, thanks to modern charging stations. What we know is that Charley reported upon their arrival in L.A, they were only able to average about 120-180 miles in South America, Central America and Mexico due to charging issues. How much they relied on crew support for charging (if at all) is still unknown.

In contrast, energizing the LiveWires on the Level 3 DC “fast charger” stations we’re used to in North America would take only 40 minutes for an 80% charge and an hour for 100%.īack in September when the guys left from Ushuaia we reported they were traveling with an extensive vehicular entourage, including at least one backup LiveWire, a Ford F350 truck and a Mercedes Sprinter Van that likely carried portable fast chargers. “There’s no real infrastructure for charging in the middle of Patagonia, for instance,” says Ewan, who goes on to describe camping in people’s backyards and plugging in overnight, occasionally blowing their host’s fuses while charging the Harleys’ greedy 15.5kWh Lithium-ion batteries, which can take over 12 hours to fully energize using 120 V household current. And while they could sometimes charge the bikes at hotels, and restaurants during lunch stops, many times they had to rely on the generosity of locals, knocking on doors and asking to use an outlet.

“It proved to be amazing, and quite tricky at the same time,” he says of charging the e-bikes along the way. Ewan McGregor spotted in Ushuaia, Argentina riding the Harley-Davidson LiveWire during filming of the Long Way Up. The pair had just completed a three-months-long journey from Tierra del Fuego, the subject of their latest overland adventure documentary, Long Way Up.Īnd then, crickets…at least until last Friday when Jimmy Fallon asked McGregor about his experience in South America during an appearance on The Tonight Show.Ī newly clean-shaven McGregor lights up remembering the ride, explaining that he and Boorman chose to go with electric Harley-Davidsons instead of traditional adventure bikes simply because they wanted to be a part of the new “wave” of transportation technology. The last time we checked in with Ewan McGregor was back in December when he and Charley Boorman arrived in Los Angeles looking blissfully road worn, riding a couple of Harley-Davidson electric LiveWires.

Long way down bike