Brose adds Comodule technology for e-Bike sharing

The Brose Group has forged a collaboration with smart bike chip maker Comodule, creating a modular plug and play solution for those in the e-Bike sharing business.

Comodule is a specialist in Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity solutions, producing the chipsets required to help electromobility firms understand the usage habits of users and to steadily improve the user experience of the back of this data collection. The firm’s modular solution meets the needs of fleet operators, in particular and by pairing with Brose’s high-quality drive technology to deliver an open cloud platform, both partners can now offer a simple, customisable solution for a fast growing micro-mobility market.

So far, a common problem with connectivity solutions many fleet operators face has been that they are often expensive to maintain.  The Brose Connected Drive partnership will seek to solve that problem with decentralised and automated maintenance, service and organisation systems.

“The Brose Connected Drive concept was created in response to the needs of fleet operators. System component reliability is just as important as the intuitively operable digital features that make the Comodule platform possible–like remote access, remote maintenance and software updates,” explains Horst Schuster, Director Sales and Marketing Brose Antriebstechnik.

At the heart of the solution is the Brose Drive C in the aluminum or magnesium version.

“The technology has already been proven in hundreds of thousands of e-Bikes, making it the ideal choice for the demanding requirements of bicycle operators,” Schuster emphasises.

Fleet operators can access a platform to view real time data on the status of their bikes regardless of their location. Updating firmware is easy thanks to remote access capability. And a geofencing feature ensures that the rental process only takes place within a predefined area.

The Comodule connectivity module in the bicycle frame is linked to the Brose Drive C and features a standardised digital application programming interface (API) to connect fleet operators to their e-Bikes. This enables them to quickly integrate e-Bikes into established fleet management systems while offering options for customisation.

“The reliable, location-independent real time connection to the e-Bikes is a deciding factor in professional fleet management. This is why the bikes are equipped with their own SIM cards for mobile Internet,” explains Sven Bernhardt, Head of Sales at Comodule.

Writing for CyclingIndustry.News last year, Comodule speculated that the usership, not ownership trend seen in other industries would come to pass in the bike world in time.