Egret, a leading e-scooter manufacturer based in Hamburg, is known for its commitment to innovation and quality.
Rising demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, alongside growing concerns about greenhouse gas and carbon emissions, is expected to fuel the adoption of e-scooters. In 2024, the global market for electric scooters is expected to reach 97.18 billion dollars.
Year
2024
Country
Germany
Team
4 people
Commits
1454
Development
17 weeks
Challenge
Egret transitioned the app infrastructure from Native to React Native. However, they soon discovered problems with OTA updates that needed to be solved urgently.
The main challenge for our development team was to understand the reasons for OTA update delays. Users experienced up to five minutes of delay during OTA firmware updates, during which the scooter could potentially turn off, posing a significant inconvenience and safety concern.
Each model of e-scooter has a unique Bluetooth module, thanks to which the application can receive and process information about the device. The next challenge was to remove inconsistency and enable the application to communicate with all scooters via BLE.
Process
The Egret project workflow underwent key stages from Discovery to Release.
Egret’s primary focus was addressing the time delay encountered during OTA updates for users. Our proposed solution involved developing a native module integrating all Bluetooth functionalities.
During the Discovery stage, we explored two main options to tackle OTA update delays. The first option was to fix the issues within the existing React Native library, `react-native-ble-plx`. However, this option didn’t provide the control and efficiency required. The second option was to develop a custom native module that allowed for more direct and robust interaction with the scooter’s hardware.
Four members of the Stormotion team participated, including a Tech Lead, a Developer, and 2 Project Managers. It took approximately 17 weeks to solve the problem with OTA and ensure BLE connectivity for different e-scooter models.
Pre-Project - 1 Week
Agile Development - 15 Weeks
Release - 1 Week
Solution
The solution was a native module that integrated seamlessly with the existing app code, now rewritten in React Native. This module included all the necessary Bluetooth functionalities, significantly enhancing the communication speed between the app and the scooters.
For the OTA update problem, we also performed reverse engineering on the original protocol handler and the corresponding app to understand the underlying issues. By extracting parts of the protocol's code, we manually tested and identified the necessary fixes.
Our team encountered a similar challenge with different BLE protocols and knew how to solve it. We created a generic protocol handler, generating the necessary protocol configurations to remove inconsistencies and enable the application to communicate with all models of e-scooters via BLE.
Success for Egret from a:
PM Perspective
The unpredictable nature of IoT hardware and varying firmware versions posed significant challenges. Our team tackled these obstacles by promptly addressing discrepancies and finding solutions using their technical skills and knowledge.
Development Perspective
By bypassing the limitations of the third-party library, our development team integrated the native module, overcoming the technical challenges and improving the stability and reliability of the app.
DevOps Perspective
We improved deployment processes with faster rollout times for updates and new features, ensuring a more agile response to any issues encountered post-launch.
Overall Business / Roadmap Perspective
The new version of Egret app has significantly enhanced the user experience, leading to higher customer retention and increased sales of Egret scooters. Currently, the Android app has a rating of 4.1. That’s a good result, but we’re planning to improve user satisfaction in future updates.
Testimonials
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Jakob Hals
Director of Product Technology @ Norsk Lithium
"Stormotion stood out because of their focus on Bluetooth-connected products. They weren't just app developers, they understood the unique challenges of building mobile app experience for hardware products. Their collaborative approach, technical expertise, and ability to quickly grasp the vision of the North Guardian app made it clear that they were the right fit."
Case studyPauline Gugelot
Product Owner @ Milence
"Stormotion has really delivered on their promises. They’ve been very transparent about their progress, flexible in reacting to changes, and solution-focused in overcoming challenges. If they didn’t know something, they would find out, which gave us great confidence in their ability to go the extra mile."
Case studyClaudio Tesei
Head of Cloud Infrastructure @ Atlante
"We originally got in touch with Stormotion from our original app developer. And very soon we found real value in choosing Stormotion, because they previously had real valuable experience on the field – digital apps working in the realm of EV charging. So, it was really a no-brainer for us to to go with them."
Case studyTodd Gilligan
Innovation Lead @ Force USA
"I had meetings with 30 different agencies and the team at Stormotion gave me the most confidence to go forward. With them you feel like you've got a kind, knowledgable & conscientious team behind you. So I was 100% sure that they're going to be able to deliver our project!"
Case studySteve Knight
Founder @ Art of Comms
"If you're thinking of going to Stormotion, you're going to have a very easy team to talk to, to communicate with, to understand what you want to do. They will tell you if you're barking up the wrong tree and are going to waste your time and money. I'd say "give it a go!" and I thoroughly recommend Stormotion."
Case studyPietro Saccomani
Founder @ MobiLoud
"The Stormotion team quickly became our team for everything Native app-related. It would be hard to name all the things that we built over the many years we worked together, but overall, I think we had a good partner who was able to adapt the way we worked, and the way they worked. So that we could ultimately build a product that had the quality that we wanted and with the speed that we wanted."
Case studyMax Sheidlock
Product Manager @ Userlutions
"Given a tough budget and a lack of knowledge in our own engineering team, we quickly came to Stormotion. We had already worked together on previous projects, and I knew that, based on React Native, we could have one engineer responsible for it. That was just amazing because I could really focus on our customer side, knowing that the mobile application for the testers was in very good hands."
Case studySzymon Sołtysiak
Head of Engineering @ Vermietet.de (ImmoScout24)
"Trust Stormotion. Work with them on your road map, on your technical debt. Also, expect feedback because the team is eager to do this. It's what I value and, I think, many startups value."
Case studyTino Marx
CTO @ CheckMyBus
"I highly recommend Stormotion as a service provider for app development. They're young, flexible, dynamic, creative and very fast. The cost of planning and implementation is also reasonable. As they use "pay as you go", have a good plan first – then the result also will be satisfactory."
Case studyGregor Herdmann
Founder & Co-CEO @ PaketConcierge
"Working with Stormotion was a blast! The Project Managers, and especially Alex, are always there for you when you need them to go the extra mile. And it's very easy to communicate with them. Whether it's something urgent or whether it's a bigger task, like building the structure of the architecture, I always felt like I was treated very well. Stormotion delivered a great app experience from day one."
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