 It is now archaic and rarely used.The term "motor vehicle" is currently used in legal, transportation planning and academic terminology.One of the first publications of the word "motocycle" in the United States was when "The Chicago Times-Herald" reported on November 29, 1895, of America's first automobile race the day before 

It turns out that Herman H. Kohlsaat, owner of the "Times-Herald", and Frederick Upham Adams, a local writer with a mechanical engineering interest, ran a public contest for someone to come up with a unique name to replace "horseless carriage" that represented the new motorized transport.