Company, municipal or tourist bicycle fleets have long been part of the urban picture. Probably the best-known urban fleet operator is the European market leader “nextbike”. Nextbike offers rental bikes through various partners in over 60 cities and 25 countries. Depending on the city, lending and return as well as the fleet tracking system behind it work mainly “analogue” or via fixed stations.
With e-bike fleets, the rental concept is digitally possible, because electricity on the bike means that digital components such as GPS trackers or data loggers can be easily integrated on the bike. The first step towards the “connected e-bike” has thus been taken. E-bike sharing and rental providers can then use this hardware and “digital” gps fleet tacking software to monitor their e-bikes in their software application. With the right technology and software, it is not only possible to limit the administration burden, better coordinate logistics or see when charging times and vehicle maintenance need to be scheduled. But it also results in new, lucrative business models in the two-wheeler sector and practical, user-friendly solutions for end-users.
“Smart” e-bikes transmit data such as GPS position, wear and tear of various components, battery levels or even information on the terrain traveled, thus offering many opportunities for fleet optimization.