Some designs absolutely want you to know they're electric far more than others do. And, I mean, that's kind of understandable. If you're going to make an EV, just like if you're going to do anything in life, own it. Don't apologize for it.
I can't tell you for sure what was in the minds of Yamaha Motor and Vibrant Co. Limited's design teams in creating this little EV quad concept. But I can tell you what the end result seems to strongly imply, and that's nothing more or less than a giant ride-on battery done up in a King Kenny Roberts livery.
Even the solid, gold-colored wheel covers look like they should have a positive and a negative sign on them, just to carry the battery motif all the way through from top to bottom. They don't; instead, they both seem to have big minus signs on them instead, which I feel is a bit of a missed opportunity.
But the bar-end mirrors are a nice touch!
Also, the LED lights up front and in the rear also add to the impression of a battery, calling to mind contact points where you'd typically lock a battery into place inside whatever you were trying to power. The cluster placement looks so similar at both ends that it's a little disconcerting at first, but I imagine it would look a bit different when they're actually lit up.
Yamaha's official name for this 4WD concept is C682, and it's another of a slew of EV concepts it recently introduced at Tokyo Auto Salon 2025. It's based on Yamaha's EV personal mobility platform that it's calling Diapason, which uses Honda Mobile Power Pack e: swappable battery packs as their power source. This particular EV, Yamaha says, is geared toward enthusiasts who are interested in personalization and customization of their EV quad.
Now, it's clearly not a finished concept, as there's currently nowhere in this design to put your feet while you're moving. While some of the other EV concepts Yamaha introduced at this event specifically mention an intention for off-road use, it's not clear whether that's the case here. Then again, the same overarching rule applies here that applies to the majority of concepts, and that's the fact that we don't know how likely it is that we'll ever see something like this get anywhere close to production.
If it did, would you be interested? What would you like to see changed, and/or what would you customize first if you had the chance? Let us know in the comments!
