Why the Honda Motocompacto Is So Important

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The most important thing about the Motocompacto is that it's made by American Honda Motor co. There are plenty of folding electric scooters on sale, plenty of last-mile solutions. But this one isn't made by a scooter company, or even a motorcycle company, though Honda owns one. This is made by AHM, the same business unit that makes the Civic, and that's why it matters.

Because how we get around is changing. Climate worries, congestion, the ongoing affordability crisis, increasing urbanization, and the EV transition have limited the appeal of the two-car-per-household suburban commute that the modern auto industry was built around. New cars, and EVs in particular, are expensive, and it'll be a long time before the average city dweller has access to consistent street-side charging. At the same time, the patchwork and inconsistent public transit networks that perpetuate American reliance on the car still exist. Improvements will be slow and costly, and so the market is looking for a solution to get you to the park-n-ride, or train station, without necessitating yet another $40,000 car.

It's this dynamic that has caused the rise of the E-scooter and E-bike. While many countries "first- and last-mile solutions" are human-powered, the United States operates on a larger scale and with lower overall density. My nearest train connection to downtown is not one mile away; it's 5.1 miles away. I could bike that distance, but only one bike is allowed per train car. It's not a solution at scale.

The Motocompacto aims to be. Like many companies, Honda is now building a folding electric scooter. Unlike the others, this isn't a Razor-esque standing scooter that folds into a a long, thin rod. It's a sit-down scooter that folds into an adorable little briefcase. It's got a cute brown saddle, a pop-out rear-wheel, footrests, and an adorable little headlight. Plus, it's got pedigree. The Motocompacto is a descendent of the folding scooter Honda tried out in the Eighties, the Motocompo. Designed to fit in a tiny city car—the aptly named Honda City—and fold out for the last few miles of riding, the Motocompo was the last-mile solution before that was a known concept.

The Motocompacto carries on that legacy with a blocky, Eighties-vision-of-the-future aesthetic. Its closest living automotive design isn't made by Honda; It reminds me most of the retro-futurist Hyundai Ioniq 5, or even a Super73 electric bike. Pack it down and it looks like an oversized Macbook with a slash through it for the pivoting wheel, and Honda says this isn't a coincidence. The flat, white sides are meant to be customized with skins and stickers, like the back of a laptop.

There are cons to this approach. While most folding electric scooters offer a one-step folding process, the Motocompacto takes a bit more elbow grease. First, you unlatch and slide out the seatpost. Then you undo a second latch under the seat itself, which allows the seat to pivot into a flatter position, where it can be stored inside the ABS plastic body. Then you undo another latch to flip the handle bars vertically, then one more to collapse it down into the body. Then you pull out a lever by the rear wheel, twist it, and press one more button as you push the rear wheel back into the casing. Fold the kickstand and footrests in and you're finally done.

It's not a seamless process. My pre-production tester's handlebar latch had been over-tightened and got stuck, so it couldn't fold down. Practicing on another example required a lot of guidance from Honda corporate representatives. Lucky these will be sold at Honda and Acura dealers, so if you're stumped they should be able to help you out. Once the process is completed, you're left with a 29.2-inch x 3.7-inch x 21.1-inch box, with an integrated carrying handle welded to the Motocompacto's aluminum frame. It's sturdy and ergonomic to carry, but at 41.3 lbs don't plan to carry it too far. It's closer to a heavy carry-on than it is to a laptop bag. For reference, our friends at Popular Mechanics maintain a list of their favorite electric scooters; Their top pick is the Razor-like Segway Ninebot ES4, and it weighs just over 30 lbs.

It also costs $499 on Amazon as I write this, can travel at 18.6 mph, and goes 28 miles on a charge. The Motocompacto goes for $995, tops out at 15 mph, and can cover 12 miles on a full battery. It's on the expensive side for electric scooters, but far cheaper than most e-bikes that provide a seated riding position ($2295 for Super73's cheapest adult bike). On numbers alone, it's not a gamechanger. But we've never thought that numbers define what makes transportation fun. The products we care about are the things that make moving around fun. And unfolded, the little Honda scooter is a riot.

The suitcase-like design gives it a sense of whimsy. The fixed riding position is closer to a Pocket Rocket bike than a standing scooter like the Segway. To keep speed I had to lean into corners, kick out a leg, move with the machine. Honda set up a tiny autocross in the back section of their Torrance, CA, headquarters, and I spent the better part of two hours trying to sort out the most fun way to huck this thing around cones.

Tuck tight enough and you can power onto the straight at nearly V-max, and hit 16 mph indicated. Take it wide and lift and you can get the tail of the front-drive scooter squirmy. Saw the handlebars while tugging the rear-only brake and you can slide to a stop in a long, silly S-curve. Cut right at 15 mph, yank the brake, and you're on your way into a heroic, dusty Akira slide. Lift the front up until the tire barely touches the ground and you can pull off the world's cutest burnout.

I knew the Motocompacto would be smart. It was designed by an automaker with enough lawyers to fill an NFL stadium. It won't send power to the wheels unless its sensors see that the handlebars are folded out to horizontal position, and its rear wheel is deployed. It won't send power if you're holding the brake, and by default (in mode 1) denies power at 0 mph so that it doesn't walk away in your hands. It charges off a household 110-volt outlet in 3.5 hours, and supports riders up to 265 lbs. It has an app to control its settings and monitor its power.

But I love the Motocompacto because it's also dumb. It does let you enable power at 0 mph (in mode 2, changed via the app), it's easy to slide, and it's build to be silly. The only reason it exists is because every year Honda asks its employees what they would make if they could build anything, and one heroic enthusiast sketched out a modern version of an obscure Eighties folding scooter.

It just so happened to fit with where Honda is going. The corporation isn't aiming to be the world's biggest car company. It is already the world's largest mobility company. It builds motorcycles and side-by-sides and riding mowers. Now it wants to make the whole operation carbon-neutral. It has plans to offer electric motorcycles with battery packs you can swap into your snowblower, an autonomous EV riding mowers, and hybrid VTOL aircraft. It isn't planning for a world in which everything is the same, but electric. It's planning for everything to be different. For an actual rethink of mobility. Most companies pitching that sort of rethink are peddling soulless transportation pods for the half-asleep to take to work. But the Motocompacto is proof that new modes of transportation don't have to be more boring than the ones we're used to. They can actually be way more fun.

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