Case study shows: Reliable storage solutions are also critical for urban mobility
A local e-scooter sharing provider experienced an unexpected incident: During charging, the battery of a scooter caught fire. The vehicle was partially burned out and the integrated telematics unit was severely damaged. The SD memory card installed in the vehicle contained all GPS and driving data, usage statistics, and maintenance logs—crucial for billing, insurance records, and internal fleet management.
As the data was urgently needed, the company turned to the specialists at RecoveryLab Hannover (https://www.recoverylab-datenrettung.de/hannover/). Initial attempts to read the memory card in-house were unsuccessful. The medium was no longer recognized by the computer. A forensic analysis in the laboratory revealed that the electronics of the telematics unit had been completely destroyed. However, the actual NAND memory chip had partially survived the fire.
“In such cases, the only option is direct access via chip-off procedures,” explains Lars Müller, Technical Director at RecoveryLab. “We remove the memory chips, read the raw data using special technology, and then reconstruct the logical structure. Only through this process can the original files, such as GPS logs or log files, be reassembled.”
After several days of work, over 92 percent of the stored data was recovered in full quality, including all billing and maintenance information. Only a few fragmented log entries were irreparably damaged. For the sharing provider, this meant the rescue of important evidence for insurance companies and authorities – and the ability to continue operations without long-term downtime.
The case shows how risky it is to store security-relevant data exclusively in vehicle components. RecoveryLab advises operators of mobility fleets to regularly back up critical information redundantly—for example, through additional systems or RAID data recovery—and to check memory cards (https://www.recoverylab-datenrettung.de/flash-speicher/speicherkarte/) and telematics systems at short intervals for functionality and data integrity.
