Yamaha C160 Single Person EV Uses Honda Technology
Looking like the lovechild of a mobility scooter and a Tesla Cybertruck, the cutesy Yamaha C160 uses Honda’s swappable battery technology
Yamaha is well known for announcing wacky concepts of the two and four-wheeled variety. From the robot rider, Motobot, to the F1-engined OX99-11 supercar, history is littered with dreamy ideas from Iwata, many of which never get further than the clay model stage.
The latest weird new concept from the tuning fork brand is this, the C160 which looks like a cross between a mobility scooter, a pram and a Tesla Cybertruck.
Weird it may be, but it’s actually a legitimate ‘thing’, being based on the Yamaha Diapason platform. Diapason is a lightweight EV platform from Yamaha that has already spawned a range of large-scale quadbike/ATV crossovers. The other machines to use the Diapason platform are either utilitarian farm vehicles, blinged-up golf carts or hip little beach buggies. Nothing from the Diapason family looks anything like the C160.
Clearly surfing on the coattails of the Tesla Cybertruck, beneath the skin of the machine is an EV powertrain created by two of Japan’s biggest automotive companies. Yamaha’s motor and speed controller provide the torque while Honda’s Mobile Power Pack brings with it swappable battery technology. The system speeds up getting moving once the battery is depleted, giving the driver the chance to pull out the empty pack and swap it with a fresh one from a roadside charging station.
Little else is known about the C160, other than it’s a single-seater with no doors, a canvas roof, and what looks like a stainless steel body. Will we ever see it making production? Probably not. Like so many of Yamaha’s concepts of the past, the C160 in its current form will probably forever live as little more than a pipedream from an enthusiastic designer. Will we ever see the Honda Mobile Power Pack on two and four-wheeled Yamaha EVs? Most definitely, and probably in the not-too-distant future.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
