The Honda Moto Comparto: A Fun and Goofy Electric Scooter

This is the Honda Moto comparto, and it's the most fun and goofy vehicle I've had the pleasure of driving all year. It's so little that what we have here is a foldable e-scooter that breaks down into something tiny, about 20 inches tall by 30 inches wide and less than 4 inches deep. The Honda Moto comparto is an electric rebirth of the original Moto combo, which was a compact foldable gasoline motorcycle that fit inside the trunk of the Honda Jazz.

Between 1981 and 1983, Honda sold the Moto combo in Japan, but it's achieved cult status over the years. The Honda Moto comparto takes its inspiration from this iconic vehicle and has made it even simpler up front. We have a 490-watt electric motor that's half of a kilowatt, which translates to around half a horsepower. However, it's quite torquey, making it a joy to ride.

The control center is located on the right-hand side of the handlebar, where you'll also find a brake and a bell to alert others when you're approaching. In between these two components lies an LCD screen that displays your battery life, current speed, top speed, and maximum range, which is around 12 miles with a full charge.

The Honda Moto comparto can be plugged into a regular 110-volt outlet at home and charged in about 3.5 hours, making it a great option for short commutes or casual carpool rides. The vehicle was designed to be small and compact, making it easy to toss into a trunk or bring onto a train.

One of the unique features of the Honda Moto comparto is its front-wheel drive rear brake system. This means that you won't be able to power through tight turns as easily, but if you've ever ridden an e-scooter before, you'll know how similar the experience can be with a little more comfort because you're sitting down.

One of the things I love most about the Honda Moto comparto aside from its adorable design is that it's not a chore to ride. The speed may seem modest at first glance - 15 mph doesn't sound like much, but trust me when you get going, it feels like a good pace. It's almost as if you're running on wheels.

However, there is one minor nitpick: there isn't enough space for bags or baskets. This means that if you want to make grocery runs with the Honda Moto comparto, you'll need to bring along a backpack instead.

Now, let's take a look at how quickly we can break down the Honda Moto comparto into its portable mode. To do this, start by removing the seat post, which is the only part that needs to be taken out in order to get it broken down. The rest of the process is relatively straightforward and takes about 10-15 minutes.

Once you've removed the seat post, you'll need to unlock your handlebars, give them a slight rotation of 90 degrees, and then unlock the bottom and top of the stem. As the whole handlebar situation begins to drop into place, pull it down into position, lock it in, unlock your rear wheels, fold those in, lock them back into place, and finally kickstand the scooter.

That's all there is to it - a process that takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. The Honda Moto comparto will be ready for use in no time, and you can enjoy its fun and goofy nature on your next commute or carpool ride.

The Honda Moto comparto will go on sale later this year for $995, making it an affordable option for those looking to try out electric scooters. While the vehicle was designed to complement Honda's upcoming series of electric vehicles, such as the Acura ZDX and the Honda Prologue, it can also be used with gasoline-powered vehicles.

If you're interested in learning more about electric vehicles like this one and big electric vehicles, be sure to check out CNET for all the latest news and reviews.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the Honda Moto compacto and it is the most fun goofiest vehicle I've driven all year it's so little what we've got here is a foldable e scooter that breaks down into something Vally the size of a briefcase you're looking at around 20 in tall by 30 in wide and less than 4 in deep but first a quick history lesson back between 1981 and 1983 Honda sold the Moto combo it was a compact foldable gasoline motorcycle that fit inside the trunk of the Honda Jazz it was only sold for those years and only in the Japanese market and it's achieved a bit of ult status so the Moto compacto then is an electric Rebirth of the Moto compo and it's in many ways even more simple up front we've got a 490 watt electric motor that's half of a kilowatt it breaks down to around half a horsepower but it's pretty torky and it's controlled with this throttle right here on the right handlebar on the left we've got a brake and a nice little bell so that you can let people know that you're coming and in the middle we've got an LCD that shows things like your battery life and your current speed top speed is around 15 mph and maximum range is around 12 Mi with a full charge now you just plug this guy into a regular 110 volt Outlet at your house and you go to a full charge in around 3 and 1/2 hours that's a pretty good amount of range for maybe getting two and from a train station on your commute or maybe getting from a casual car pool or ride sharing spot to your final Destin ation now Honda designed this thing to be small and Compact and complement its upcoming series of electric vehicles starting with the Acura ZDX and the Honda prologue but it also works well with a gasoline vehicle pretty much anywhere you can toss this thing into a trunk or bring it onto a train it's kind of Ideal for now typically electric vehicles are heavier than the gasoline cars they replace but this only weighs 40 lb which is about half the weight of the original Honda Moto combo you can actually carry this around pretty easily not bad now one of the things you have to get used to with riding this thing is that it's front-wheel drive rear brake which means that uh you can't really power through turns and it gets a little bit of Wibble wobbly but if you've ever spent any time on like a lime scooter or something like that it's a very similar experience with the steering just a little more comfortable because you're sitting down now one of the things that I like most about this aside from the fact that well frankly it's just adorable is that it's not a chore to ride it's actually a whole lot of fun 15 m per hour doesn't seem like a whole lot but when you get zipping it's a good Pace it's like a running pace I think it's going to be more than enough for getting you around from point A to point B and if I have one minor nitpick it's that there's nowhere to put a bag or a basket or something like that this is something that you're going to want to put a backpack on with if you want to make a grocery run for example let's see how quickly I can get this broken down into its portable mode you'll start by removing the seat post here which is the only part that you have to remove in order to get it broken down it's a little Parts forish but the rest of it pretty straightforward next thing you're going want to do is UN lock your handlebars give them a little rotate 90° you'll unlock the bottom of the stem and then unlock the top of the stem and the whole handlebar situation just sort of drops down into it pull down lock into place unlock your rear wheels fold those in lock them back into place kick stand kick stand and you're ready to go that's pretty quick right the Honda Moto compacto goes on sale later this year for 995 bucks and you don't even have to buy an EV to get one though Honda probably prefers that you do you can find out more about electric vehicles like this and big electric vehicles over on cnet.com I'm going to go sneak some more miles in for they take this thing away from me it's just too much funthis is the Honda Moto compacto and it is the most fun goofiest vehicle I've driven all year it's so little what we've got here is a foldable e scooter that breaks down into something Vally the size of a briefcase you're looking at around 20 in tall by 30 in wide and less than 4 in deep but first a quick history lesson back between 1981 and 1983 Honda sold the Moto combo it was a compact foldable gasoline motorcycle that fit inside the trunk of the Honda Jazz it was only sold for those years and only in the Japanese market and it's achieved a bit of ult status so the Moto compacto then is an electric Rebirth of the Moto compo and it's in many ways even more simple up front we've got a 490 watt electric motor that's half of a kilowatt it breaks down to around half a horsepower but it's pretty torky and it's controlled with this throttle right here on the right handlebar on the left we've got a brake and a nice little bell so that you can let people know that you're coming and in the middle we've got an LCD that shows things like your battery life and your current speed top speed is around 15 mph and maximum range is around 12 Mi with a full charge now you just plug this guy into a regular 110 volt Outlet at your house and you go to a full charge in around 3 and 1/2 hours that's a pretty good amount of range for maybe getting two and from a train station on your commute or maybe getting from a casual car pool or ride sharing spot to your final Destin ation now Honda designed this thing to be small and Compact and complement its upcoming series of electric vehicles starting with the Acura ZDX and the Honda prologue but it also works well with a gasoline vehicle pretty much anywhere you can toss this thing into a trunk or bring it onto a train it's kind of Ideal for now typically electric vehicles are heavier than the gasoline cars they replace but this only weighs 40 lb which is about half the weight of the original Honda Moto combo you can actually carry this around pretty easily not bad now one of the things you have to get used to with riding this thing is that it's front-wheel drive rear brake which means that uh you can't really power through turns and it gets a little bit of Wibble wobbly but if you've ever spent any time on like a lime scooter or something like that it's a very similar experience with the steering just a little more comfortable because you're sitting down now one of the things that I like most about this aside from the fact that well frankly it's just adorable is that it's not a chore to ride it's actually a whole lot of fun 15 m per hour doesn't seem like a whole lot but when you get zipping it's a good Pace it's like a running pace I think it's going to be more than enough for getting you around from point A to point B and if I have one minor nitpick it's that there's nowhere to put a bag or a basket or something like that this is something that you're going to want to put a backpack on with if you want to make a grocery run for example let's see how quickly I can get this broken down into its portable mode you'll start by removing the seat post here which is the only part that you have to remove in order to get it broken down it's a little Parts forish but the rest of it pretty straightforward next thing you're going want to do is UN lock your handlebars give them a little rotate 90° you'll unlock the bottom of the stem and then unlock the top of the stem and the whole handlebar situation just sort of drops down into it pull down lock into place unlock your rear wheels fold those in lock them back into place kick stand kick stand and you're ready to go that's pretty quick right the Honda Moto compacto goes on sale later this year for 995 bucks and you don't even have to buy an EV to get one though Honda probably prefers that you do you can find out more about electric vehicles like this and big electric vehicles over on cnet.com I'm going to go sneak some more miles in for they take this thing away from me it's just too much fun\n"