Review: Test riding Honda’s Motocompacto electric scooter, aka the battery-powered suitcase
I recently got the chance to test ride Honda’s new Motocompacto, a battery-powered suitcase with wheels that comes complete with an underwhelming 15 mph top speed and an adorable bell, which I must say has to be my favorite feature by far. Overall, the Motocompacto’s strongest aspect is its looks, followed by its portability.
For context, this is the electric successor to the original 1983 Honda Motocompacto, which was powered by a tiny gasoline motor and designed to fit in the trunk of a car. The idea was that if you didn’t want the hassle of finding parking close to where you wanted to go, such as a city center, you could park farther away, take out the Motocompacto from the back of your car, unfold it, and ride to your destination.
Specs
- Vehicle Type: Scooter
- Motor: 250 W Permanent-magnet synchronous DC with 490W of Peak Output
- Torque: 11.8 lb.-ft./16 Nm
- Weight capacity: 265lbs
- Wheelbase: 29.2 inches
- Brakes: single rear drum brake
- Charge time: 3.5 hours (110v)
- Battery Capacity: 6.8Ah
- Price: $995
With a range of up to 12 miles, 0-15 mph time of 7 seconds, and a front wheel motor measuring 490W I wouldn’t get my hopes up about using this to get somewhere fast or far, but you can definitely get there in style. On my short ride through Westside Park in NYC, I received quite a few comments and questions from strangers about the Motocompacto, and understandably so since I was riding on what essentially looked like a white suitcase with a few small parts sticking out of it.
The vehicle weighs only 41.3 lbs and quite easily folds down to a manageable and rollable device that you could store in the back of a car or small closet. Honda’s ideal intended use for this vehicle is for people to quickly get around in a city or for college students to travel throughout their campus but at a price of $995 and no suspension, it wouldn’t be hard to find a cheaper alternative for your commuting needs.
Despite the lackluster specs and a 6.8 ah battery, I can’t help but want one of these for a particular reason. Call me immature, but the idea of having a late-night craving for a specific food at the nearby grocery store and being able to hop on the Motocompacto and ride it straight into the store to make my purchase without having to walk or park outside sounds like a dream. I imagine the vehicle’s tiny and adorable looks would make it much easier to be somewhat tolerated while riding through a subway platform or even a semi-empty shopping mall.
With zero suspension, incredibly small wheels, and a tall handlebar, 15 mph is about the highest speed I’d feel safe riding the Motocompacto. While the vehicle comes with some fun tech specs like the ability to adjust your personal settings, such as lighting and ride modes through a phone app, this is still very much a simple and bare-bones vehicle and certainly rides like one. The scooter is powered only by its front wheel motor, and for brakes, you’re limited to a single rear drum brake. For safety, you also have a bell, which I thought was a beautiful touch in the safety and style department.
As for the size, Honda kept the specs pretty similar to an actual suitcase, with its width measuring 3.7 inches when fully stowed and folds to a length of just 29 inches and a height of 21 inches.
The folding and unfolding process was relatively simple and could be done in less than 30 seconds, although the first couple of times doing it, I had a bit of trouble as there are quite a few steps involved, but it’s something that can be done quickly after a short learning curve. Overall, I’d say the folding and unfolding process is simple enough to do so on the go while on a train station platform.
When fully unfolded and you’re ready to ride you’ll find that the vehicle comes with two different modes. For mode one you’ll be restricted to 10 mph and are required to kick off to start moving, and with mode two you won’t have any requirement; push the throttle, and you’re on your way.
With such a small profile, I was surprised to learn there was a place to hold things while riding. Located in the center between the handlebar and the seat is a small space adequate to hold a few snacks or laptops along with a few notebooks. You can also hold the charger that can recharge the battery in about 3.5 hours. With its compact profile when folded up, I imagine it would be a lot easier to get away with bringing this inside to a cafe, office, or building lobby to get a quick charge in.
As for the build quality, I was happy to see that it had some simple yet elegant features, like the synthetic leather handlebar grips and seat, as well as a sleek digital speedometer. An overall pro for the Motocompacto that I love is that it’s simple and designed to be user-repairable. I love that this vehicle is charming and fun, but having a quality build and the ability to quickly repair things yourself is a massive plus in my opinion and helps to slightly justify the steep price tag.
If you’re looking to buy the Motocompacto, it is now available for order through participating Honda or Acura dealerships or online and comes in at an MSRP of $995.
Electrek’s take:
As a last-mile commuting solution for city dwellers or college students, I can’t see the Motocompacto as highly competitive in the market, but as a suitcase with wheels, I think this might just be the best there is.
The steep price tag and underwhelming specs make it hard to see this as a game changer, but this is still Honda’s early days into the electric PEV space, with a lot more to come.
Honda Motocompacto review video
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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