Suitcase-Sized Tatamel E-Bike Is Here but Is Such a Disappointment

And a dream is what the Icoma Tatamel e-bike was!

Introduced as a concept in 2020, at the height of the international health crisis, it was described as the ideal city commuter: compact but rugged, playful but smart, affordable but still with the appeal of a novelty product, it was just the thing to make the city commute fun again. Safe, too!

At the time the concept made international headlines, it was yet unknown if the Tatamel would ever make it into production. A later 2021 update hinted that this was, indeed, the case, but it failed to mention the possibility of international shipping.

Hope in this sense came with the bike's debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2023: after all, if Icoma had no plans of shipping it outside of its home country, Japan, why would they be bringing it to Las Vegas? But that's also when the rest of the dream started to crumble, showing that the Tatamel concept, while still a solid proposal for urban mobility, wasn't exactly living up to the hype that had preceded it.

This is the most recent update on the Tatamel e-bike and, under the guise of good news, it further shatters the dream. The e-bike is real, no doubt about it, and it's making its way to limited production as a "craft bike," and deliveries are scheduled to go out as early as October 2024.

However, the e-bike is not an "e-bike" by the standard understanding of the term. It is, in fact, a mini electric motorcycle, which brings a slew of restrictions and conditions that an e-bike doesn't have. It's also heavier than anticipated earlier and with a ridiculously short range for an electric motorcycle.

Described as "Built by everyone. For everyone," the Tatamel's distinctive feature is that it comes with side panels that can be customized according to your liking. In future iterations, Icoma imagines these panels as screens that would help you advertise your business as you're running errands or catching up with your favorite shows during your lunch break.

The bike's other distinctive feature is the folding frame, which it has retained since the concept unveil. The Tatamel folds onto itself until it's half the original size, which means it can be stowed and parked anywhere – including under your desk at work, which is why Icoma allows you to match the panels to the material your desk is made from.

Icoma doesn't anticipate your working anywhere but the ground floor because the Tatamel tips the scales at 63 kg (139 lbs), which is 10 kg (22 lbs) more than what the unit presented at 2023 CES weighed. It's safe to say, you're not going to be hauling this two-wheeler anywhere but a garage or other parking structure, and then too it will be moving under its own power.

Power comes from a 600W motor that peaks at 2,000W and is fed by a 51.2V battery. A full charge takes 3 hours and is good for 30 km (18.6 miles) at a maximum speed of 40 kph (25 mph). The bike's weight and speed rank it as a moped, so you need a license to operate it. You're also barred from cycle paths and must stick to the road with a helmet, license plates, lights, and a mirror.

To its credit, the bike comes with a license plate holder, lights, and a mirror. Again, to its credit, both the plate holder and the mirror fold into the compact body when it's time to stow away the two-wheeler.

Made up of parts made by local craftspeople and specialist companies, the Tatamel boasts some 3D printed components, and stainless steel and aluminum parts. It also has double suspension, making up for the small-size wheels (10 inches in the front and 6 inches in the back). Maximum payload is 100 kg (220.5 lbs), to go with those small wheels and compact dimensions.

When Icoma brought the Tatamel to CES, it said it was thinking of a starting price in the $4,000 region. No specifics were offered, but the understanding was that this didn't include the customized panels. The only piece of good news with this recent update is that the bike is actually cheaper, with a sticker price of ¥498,000, which is approximately $3,200 at the current exchange rate.

The bad news is that it doesn't include shipping, which may be limited to Japan, at least for now.

Icoma says that the four years that have passed since the introduction of the Tatamel concept have gone into refining the product based on follower feedback. In theory, that's an excellent thing, but not so much in this case, where it turned the perfect city e-bike into a mini electric motorcycle that's nothing like they promised it would be and with a range that qualifies it as a first- and last-mile solution at best.