On July 11, 2018, Mike G.* had a rude awakening: In the night a warning text message had been sent to his smartphone that informed him that his e-bike had possibly been stolen. A look to the front of his residence in Basel confirmed it: His Stromer was gone – stolen. But not for long.
The motor was locked, rendering the e-bike useless as loot.
Mike’s Stromer is equipped with the OMNI software and thus with clever anti-theft protection that makes his e-bike a truly poor haul for thieves; as soon as the thieves touched the locked e-bike and removed it from its location, it automatically switched to anti-theft mode. This means that the light system began to flash, the motor was locked, and Mike received the mentioned warning text message. The flashing and the warning text message were not directly helpful in Mike’s case as he was unable to immediately react. The motor locking, however, rendered his e-bike practically useless for the thieves.
GPS localization leads directly to the thieves.
The happy ending to Mike’s story can be attributed to an additional OMNI feature: Mike was able to perform GPS localization for his vehicle and track the entire journey of the thieves. He informed the city police in Basel, who worked together with their French colleagues to secure a delivery vehicle with stolen goods in the harbor of Marseille and shut down the pilferers’ operation. A week later, Mike G.’s Stromer was returned to him undamaged.
OMNI – the digital connection between the e-bike and its owner.
All Stromer e-bikes equipped with OMNI can be protected and recovered just like Mike’s e-bike. OMNI is the system that connects Stromer owners to their e-bike at all times and in all places via 3G mobile phone technology, e.g. via the OMNI app like in Mike’s case. Locking and unlocking, activation of the anti-theft mode and the GPS localization make up only a small portion of the many features offered by OMNI. Others include calling up the battery status and the riding statistics or adjusting the motor settings. We call this “full connectivity”. The Stromer can naturally also be used without a smartphone. If you do not have the OMNI app, activation can be performed by the Stromer dealer.
No guaranteed anti-theft protection, but there is a good chance for a happy ending.
The anti-theft protection through OMNI cannot be used to prevent thieves from stealing your vehicle. But thanks to OMNI, the chances are good that you can recover your stolen e-bike. Clever thieves will also keep their hands off your e-bike because they know: this e-bike is not only of no value to them, but thanks to the GPS localization may even end up getting them caught. The GPS position is only communicated if the bike is switched on and has mobile network reception.
“Smartlock”: convenient protection via Bluetooth.
If you want your anti-theft protection to be particularly straightforward, you can use the “Smartlock” function whereby the e-bike is paired with the smartphone via Bluetooth. That means: As soon as you move away from or approach your e-bike with your smartphone, it is automatically locked or unlocked, respectively – without using the app or the touchscreen. Thanks to “Smartlock”, you can avoid a laborious locking process but maintain your feeling of safety while you go for a quick cup of coffee or pop into the bakery. Even with the “Smartlock” variant, the following naturally applies: If your e-bike is moved while it is in locked mode, the anti-theft mode is activated with flashing, motor locking and a warning text message. This function is only possible with OMNI C (color display).
The “Smartlock” process:
You can, of course, opt for the conventional variant if you wish: Locking and unlocking using the OMNI app or via the touchscreen on your bike. Whichever variant you choose, we definitely recommend always securing Stromer e-bikes with an additional lock.
We wish you safe riding!
More about OMNI
* Name changed.
