This Is Arma, an e-Scooter No Bigger Than a Laptop-Sized Suitcase

That explains the many so-called world records: the world's lightest e-bike, the world's fastest folding electric bicycle or scooter, the world's smartest two-wheeler, you name it, and it's probably been done recently. Of course, not a single one of these titles is official, but they do help with getting attention. Once you have attention, the odds of having a successful launch increase.

If you can stomach another world first, the Arma would very much like your attention as the world's smallest e-scooter. It's so compact that it's no bigger than a laptop case when folded down, and it weighs less than a bag of weekly groceries.

Compactness and weight make it the ideal alternative as a first- and last-mile solution, effectively putting the "micro" in micro-mobility.

Our cities are getting more crowded and harder to navigate. With congestion being a serious problem in most urban areas, more time-efficient solutions are needed. For those for whom public transport is off-limits or simply limited, that leaves two-wheelers, with electric options being preferred on account of requiring less effort to operate.

Options here include ride-sharing programs or buying your own two-wheeler, with the latter situation presenting problems like storage and the need to carry it on public transport or up the stairs when needed. The Arma does away with these concerns: it's so small that you don't have to think about leaving it outside, and light enough to carry up however many flights of stairs you want or on public transport.

Designed and developed by Japan-based mobility specialist Shimizu, Arma is now in the final prototype stage, raising money through crowdfunding to go to production stage. The crowdfunding campaign, if successfully funded, will unleash 300 such mini e-scooters in the world and, more importantly, help finalize the design for the series production model.

Shimizu says that the prototype has been certified as the smallest and lightest e-scooter in the world, but it offers no official data for the claim.

Records aside, the Arma proposes a "work smarter, not harder" approach to the problem of moving about the city: swappable batteries, good speed, overall high quality, and a form factor that makes it fit inside a woman's shoulder bag – one of those medium-sized bags, not the kind you could fit half the contents of a home in.

Powered by a 250 W motor and one 3.5-Ah 36-V lithium-ion battery, the Arma is good for 9.3 miles (15 km) of estimated range per charge. A full charge is achieved in 2 hours, but if you're not in the mood or in a position to wait this long, you can swap the battery for a fresh one and get moving right away. Maximum speed is 14.9 mph (24 kph), which is just as fast as you'd want to go on a teeny-tiny scooter with teeny-tiny wheels and multiple joints.

Speaking of joints, the Arma has plenty of them, allowing it to fold down to the dimensions of a sheet of A4 paper in under 30 seconds. The footrests fold over the rear wheel, while the handlebar folds down onto itself until the entire machine is a compact package you can carry by the conveniently placed handle.

It's lightweight enough for that, too: Shimizu says that Arma will weigh around 10 lbs (4.5 kg), which would make it a suitable solution even for those of us for whom weight training is a foreign concept. Meanwhile, maximum payload would be of 220 lbs (100 kg), making this the surprising weight-lifting champion of electric two-wheel solutions.

"Say goodbye to cumbersome commutes, and hello to a seamless transition," Shimizu says, inviting you to "discover new freedom." Don't take that in the most general sense, but freedom in the context of the daily urban commute that might require the use of a first- and last-mile solution.

Even with this caveat, the Arma sounds like a fun and highly creative way to move around, on the condition of a good (or at least decent) city infrastructure and your own ability to not feel embarrassed at the thought of riding such a machine.

The crowdfunding campaign offers a $920 early-bird price and the possibility to bundle three of them in one shipment. If you're feeling like a good friend. Only 300 units will be made available for the campaign, with series production scheduled to start after the Q3 2024 deliveries on this first batch are completed.

Because Shimizu doesn't have a final design for the Arma yet, they don’t offer an MRSP either. In other words, the campaign is the make-or-break stage of development for this cute e-scooter.