Technology

Harley-Davidson, the American symbol for internal combustion, chrome and steel, is going all in on two-wheeled EVs.

The Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer is going electric and coming to Silicon Valley. Harley announced it will open an R-D space in the Bay Area by the end of 2018 to support its commitment to build electric vehicles.

&The real reason is talent,& Harley-DavidsonGroup Chief Engineer Vance Strader told TechCrunch. &We&re after people who really have a passion for and understanding of electric vehicles and the systems that make them great. [That] sort of culture we&re more likely to get in Silicon Valley: the entrepreneurial, agile, nimble culture,& he said.

Strader also offered a preview of some of the features riders can expect from the companyfirst electric motorcycle, expected later next year. Specifically aroundHarleyworld famous engine sound — something it attempted to trademark at one point. Strader said HDEVs would have their own distinct sound, &but there&ll be nothing fake about the sound. It will be entirely generated by the vehicle.&

As we reportedearlier this year, the company jolted the motorcycle world by announcing it would create an EV for sale by August 2019 — a production version of itsProject LiveWireconcept moto.

Harley-Davidson wentfurther in Junewhen CEO Matthew Levatich announced an expanded lineup of EVs, including lighter motorcycles and the possibility of scooters and bicycles.

To achieve these goals, the facility in Silicon Valley &will initially focus on electric vehicle research and development, including battery, power electronics and e-machine design, development and advanced manufacturing,& according to a company release.

HarleySilicon Valley move comes ase-motos could be at a pivotal moment inshifting the motorcycle industry toward electric.Three startups — Alta Motors,Energica andZero Motorcycles— have revved up promotion, distribution and sales in the U.S. They are betting on pulling more gas riders to the e-moto experience and attracting more young folks and women to buying motorcycles — after years of contraction in the American market.

Shortly after announcing their 2019 electric production target, Harley-Davidson took an (undisclosed) equity stake in Alta and entered into a co-development partnership.

Hello and welcome back toEquity, TechCrunchventure capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This week was incredibly fun. We recordedlive from the first floor of TechCrunchDisrupt SF confab, putting us right in the middle of the action. So it was good that we had a full crew on hand to natter about the news. From TechCrunch, Connie Loizos and Danny Crichton were on deck, along with myself. In addition to usregulars,Garry Tan joined in. Hea managing partner at Initialized Capital.

So we had the crew, a lovely stage, and four mics. Putting that together we kicked off with some ironically non-Valley news, in particular, Amazonreaching the $1 trillion market cap threshold. The firm has since given back around $50 billion in value, but we wanted to know why it was up,and why it was down.

Segueing with some precision we tucked into the recent&Peak Silicon Valley& conversation, specifically predicated on two recent pieces from the Economist (hereand here) that, in effect, ask the questionis the Valley no longer what it once was And the answer, as you can imagine, is a firmkinda.

Next up we riffed on the recent crypto meltdown. Tan was not concerned, noting that you have to have 10 percent down days to have 10 percent up days. I found that hard to stomach, but crypto remains young, per Tan, so perhaps we&ll see things calm down yet.

Next, two IPOs. First up: Elastic, a search company that seems quite young has an impressive set of numbers to show off. Itnot as hot as Snap, perhaps, but the firm is in good shape to make a good debut. And Upwork is going public as well. If Elastic is quick to IPO and quick growing, Upwork is a bit less of each. Itolder and growing more slowly.

The firms are linked by an investor, however, something that Crichton broke down for us here.

We wrapped with Caffeine$100 million round, and the changing pace of supergiant capital injections. And then we stopped talking, so we&ll catch you all in seven days. Thanks for being great!

Twitter is launching a new feature that allows users to create audio-only broadcasts directly from Twitter itself, as well as TwitterPeriscope. The feature, which Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed in a tweet this morning, is available from the same interface where you would normally launch live video. Itcurrently accessible on the Twitter for iOS app, as well as on Periscope.

Now, instead of only having the option to record video after you tap &Live,& therea button you can tap to pick audio-only broadcast.

The feature was seen in beta testing in recent weeks, but @Jacktweet & along with the mobile appupdate log & indicates it has now rolled out to all.

Twitter also confirmed to TechCrunch the feature is currently available only on the Twitter app for iOS and on Periscope for the time being. It hasn&t provided a time frame for when it will reach other platforms.

While those users will only be the ones at present who can record audio, all Twitter users across platforms will be able to see the recordings and play them back.

As the update text explains, the feature is valuable for those times when you want viewers to hear you but not see you. This could allow people to share live news on Twitter of an audio-only nature, record sharable mini-podcasts, or post something to their followers that takes longer than 280 characters to explain.

Similar to live video, audio broadcasters will be able to view their stats, like number of live viewers, replay viewers, time watched and other metrics.

The company plans to share the news through an official Twitter Engineering blog post shortly.

Update: Twitter has now tweeted the news on its own account, as well.