The Honda Motocompacto is a lightweight, portable, folding electric scooter that will enable its operator to tool around at a whopping 15 mph! It weighs just 41 lbs and can be recharged just about anywhere. The interesting e-scooter has been on the market for 18 months and starts at $995 new. The seller’s example has only covered 20 miles in Collingwood, New Jersey, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $900 (not much off of MSRP). Thanks for the “electrifying tip, Barn Finder, “Gary.”
This is not the first time Honda has gone down the folding and portable scooter path. Who remembers the Motocompo from 1981 to 1983 (here’s one we saw just in the last month and for considerably more money)? This latest incarnation can be purchased online and at Honda dealers. The Motocompacto is less than 30 inches long (when folded), under four inches wide, and just over 21 inches tall. It will fit practically anywhere and doesn’t take up much real estate when in action.
To tote your e-bike around, it comes with a strap, and the rear wheels slide into the body. Don’t plan on going more than 12 miles when fully charged, which takes 3.5 hours from a regular 110V outlet. Set-up time is under one minute. One of the pluses of the Motocompacto is that it comes with Honda quality and reliability. The seller provides few details about this e-bike other than to say it’s “like new”. And the photos aren’t too inspiring.
For anybody thinking about getting one, like i was, go to YouTube for the many reviews.
Go back to China,,,is what my old man would say, giving his Oldsmobile the “Italian tuneup”, with us coughing lead fumes. If the Asians had their way, we’d all be living 3 blocks from the factory in the 33rd level of the apartment tower, and ride electric suitcases to work. Interesting concept, but not here. Americans are and always have been, a people on the go. This stuff won’t cut it on I-70, but there is a shift in demographics, and with people saying $14 dollar wiper blades is the limit, are ditching their cars and moving back to populated areas, with centrally located establishments. My daughter says in Prague, individual car ownership is almost unheard of. With a population of almost 21 million in Beijing alone, they simply can’t drive 1960 Cadillacs. Hey, pops, we might all be riding electric suitcases someday,,,just not on my watch, I hope.
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I agree 100%. The dystopian Asian nightmare is precisely what the folks who want to create ‘smart cities” around the world have envisioned for us, but no way am I going anywhere near one, nor will I ever ride an electric bicycle or “scooter”. If I’m riding anything small it’ll be an old Cushman or a Honda, no electric suitcases for me than you very much.
sorry, most the world lives in megalopolis(eseses) and the world is going more that way (13% increase by ’50 to 68%). Just like w/housing shortage in this country, ANY building will help (.5mill$ 1, 2.5K$ 1, more rentals thru out the market) we need more of these. AND: This IS an option.
I’d like to see it w/the car, an early ’80s honda “City” the green in the pic may have been removed from. Drive 20, 30 mi to the nearest train or other free parking area to your work site, pull this out & go the nxt few mi, get on the elevator, and wheel it into a corner in the office/factory. Plugged in 7, 8 hr? no problems~
Hey I think one of these will fit in the trunk of my thirty four year old Mustang. If it breaks down I can ride it to a gas station or a towing company. Actually the streets of Cleveland and it’s suburbs are full of kids, well kids to me, on electric scooters and skateboards. That suburban life style comes at a price. Who wants to spend hours of their life sitting in traffic inching along at five mph? I like to be close enough to walk to shopping and bars. The movie theater is right across the street from me. That being said, I’m not sure what the point of this suitcase vehicle is, except as an engineering exercise.
It’s simple-you commute to the train station from your suburban or rural home in your car, you take this on the train with you, and ride it the “last mile” to work. Also good for RV-ers who don’t want to tow a car.
Not going to happen here in UK as electric scooters and bikes aren’t allowed on public transport due to their batteries catching fire very often.
I read they ARE allowed in England, but with certain restrictions, similar to US. They can’t be operated on dual motorways, besides, the batteries “catching fire” is an old stereotype from early e-bikes. I’m by no means a proponent of e-bikes, but I think newer batteries have a shutoff to prevent overcharging, a common cause of previous fires.
Naturally, my concern, and should be for a place like England with limited electrical resources, where’s the juice going to come from? That’s right, here it comes,,not sure about Chinas electrical grid, but ours is stretched to the absolute limit. I have weekly outages, and just keep plugging them in,,,
When it comes to vehicles I don’t want to see “used” and “electric” in the same ad. For $95 more I would go for a new one if I was interested.
I’ve always wanted to ride on a giant credit card. Nope
My first thought was that the designwas inspired by the look of a smart phone.
I’d be worried about theft. Park it somewhere, if you can’t chain it down someone could come along, toss it in the back seat of their car and be on their way.
@Howard A. Partially correct Howard. .Electric bikes (e-bikes) and scooters are subject to specific rules on Transport for London (TfL) services. Non-foldable e-bikes are not permitted on most TfL services, including the Underground and buses, as of March 31, 2025.
Foldable e-bikes are allowed on TfL services according to the conditions for cycles, which means they can be taken on the network during off-peak hours, excluding peak times on weekdays.
E-scooters are banned on all TfL services, including buses and the Underground.
Relax people, this is all for fun. why is everyone so uptight on this cute porta mobile. you wouldn’t ride an Italian vintage / newer Vespa scooter on I 80 either.
Ah, for the good old days when all you needed to decide was “Regular” or “ethyl”.
Writing as someone who actually owns one, and has a collection of over 25 vehicles, it amuses me to read what people who know nothing about the Motocompacto have to say about it.
Smaller and lighter than an eBike, more compact than a scooter, I enjoy putting mine in the back of one of my cars at a show or cars & coffee, and scooting to see the other vehicles being shown.
A luxury? Sure. A Honda engineering exercise? Absolutely.
But it’s fun, and it works. And I imagine there are plenty of things Motocompacto detractors choose to buy that I find, well, amusingly unnecessary.
That’s why Baskin-Robbins makes 31 flavors – we don’t all like the same thing.