Honda’s new Motocompacto e-scooter is stolen straight from my dreams | Hacker News Reader

Honda’s new Motocompacto e-scooter is stolen straight from my dreams

techcrunch.com

36 pointsthunderbong14 comments

Oh, the original design from the 80s was much more appealing in my opinion! I'm getting really tired of these super lean, Jonny Ive inspired designs for all kind of objects.

Regarding functionality, I'd go for a small foldable bike instead, these super small wheels scare me.

I feel like product designers are still obsessed with wrapping beautiful tech and machinery in boring opaque shells. :(

It's such a shame! What's worse is that these copycat designers still don't seem to understand why this philosohpy works well in Apple products and not others... they don't "get it" like Apple do. I have a feeling education is partly to blame here and stubborn senior designers, I hope experimenting with new design philosophies isn't seen as so risky in the future.

Yep the 80s machine would be perfect to throw in the back of a camper as secondary transportation

The low speed wouldn't work for me - I'd get run over. The range is so-so, and would only be good if it's light enough to be picked up and carried into the office for charging.

What I'd like is an electric version of the 1984-86 Elite 125/150, with it's 55mph top speed and cool pop-up headlight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz53sAFPo-I

This one is simply not made for you then. I can see how it could be perfect for micro mobility, for going to the train station or for doing a few kilometres in a dense city. But it’s clearly not made for long distances. The size of the seat and the wheels clearly shows this is meant to be portable while compromising on how it rides.

12 miles range? I wouldn't even get to work and back. My Van Moof gets 35 miles and that's at 20mph with a 80kg load.

My cursory web search indicates that the van moof MSRPs were something like 2x to 3x that of the motocompacto at $995[1] and, not to snark but it does appear that company went bankrupt while selling at that price point. A more direct comparison might be the Niu KQI3 e-scooter which claims 30 miles, 45 pounds, at $800. [2]

[1] https://motocompacto.honda.com/

[2] https://shop.niu.com/products/niu-electric-kick-scooter-for-...

I literally have just bought a new e-bike for not much more[0] (mine was pre-order, so a bit cheaper than currently). Claim is up to 60 miles, depending on conditions, at 45lbs.

0: https://www.prioritybicycles.com/products/eclassicplus?varia...

Oh sick, I've been looking for an e-bike that doesn't look stupid. Thanks!

Ebikes with 30-40 mile range are available for much cheaper than 3k, I only referenced the VM because I have one and I know the range very well.

12 miles is not sufficient in almost any major city. I'm struggling to think of a use case for a vehicle with such short range.

It does look cool though!

>12 miles is not sufficient in almost any major city. I'm struggling to think of a use case for a vehicle with such short range.

Two things:

1. This is intended as a first-last mile intermodal device, not a primary commuter. It is plenty for any city where you want to go from your house to a train station that is perhaps a 30 minute walk (1.5-2 miles) away. Easy way to save on rent without sacrificing time, since rent goes up as you get closer to a train station in most cities. Or, you might be driving from a roomy suburb to a park and ride that is a similar distance from your work downtown. Or, you might be able to take two 5 minute train journeys to work, but there's an annoying 30 minute walk transfer in the middle. Myself, I struggle to think of an intermodal use-case that does not make sense for this in say, any Japanese urban city I've been to.

2. This is a Honda product, in the spirit of the MotoCompo, which was sold as an accessory to a car. [1] Think of it also that way - You've effectively expanded your last-mile parking radius from your destination by six miles. That's plenty in even cities without good public transit - going back to the saving money idea, $995 doesn't pay for much commuter parking in an urban core downtown type of environment.

[1]: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1981-honda-city-turbo-ii-w...

12 miles is quite beyond normal “reasonable walk” range so this could have some “legs”.

It’s also smaller than a bike and maybe even than a collapsible bike.

But it pretty much needs to be on pavement.

The wheels do look pretty small, maybe too small to even handle an unusually large pebble.

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