If there’s one type of light electric vehicle that’s been underrepresented on this website until now, it’s the rideable electric suitcase. If you’re immediately sold on the concept, don’t get too excited. It turns out a lot of airports are now imposing restrictions on them over safety concerns.

For clarity, what we are talking about here is not merely an oblong suitcase-looking vehicle, like Honda's revived Motocompacto e-scooter/moped. We’re talking about actual functional suitcases you can ride around on – like adult Trunkis with motors.

Al Jazeera reports that they’ve been around for about a decade now, having been pioneered by a firm called Modobag. They’re surprisingly popular. According to Applied Market Research, the market was worth $182m in 2021 (about £140m).

Whether predictions of further growth pan out may however depend on the policies of airports, which seem increasingly wary of them.

Rideable electric suitcases tend to be capable of speeds roughly half that of e-bikes – about 13km/h. That only really equates to a brisk jog, but in a packed airport terminal you can see how it could still prove an issue.

Tokyo’s Haneda Airport therefore banned the use of rideable suitcases in terminals in February to prevent collisions. There’s also the battery issue – airlines will not carry larger batteries.  

Japan has also introduced a law requiring riders to have a driver’s licence to ride outside airports, newly categorising rideable electric suitcases as ‘motorised bicycles’. (Yes, people sometimes ride suitcases on the roads.)