Better Place pulls out of U.S. and Australia

Better Place, a company that provides charging stations for electric vehicles (EV), said on February 6 that it would wind down its operations in North America and Australia and concentrate solely on Denmark and Israel.
The company was founded five years ago by Shai Agassi, a charismatic Israeli entrepreneur who had previously been a top executive at SAP, the software company. Agassi raised more than US$800 million in private capital for his vision of breaking the world’s oil addiction by offering convenient battery-swapping stations for electric cars.
But the company failed to demonstrate the feasibility of its concept, even though it managed to create a small network of stations in Israel and Denmark. It has posted US$477 million in cumulative losses since 2010, and four months ago replaced Agassi with a new chief executive, Evan Thornley, who had been the top Better Place executive in Australia. Thornley unexpectedly resigned in January after just three months on the job, and has been replaced by Dan Cohen.
On January 22, around the time Thornley left the company, the Israeli business publication Globes reported that he had left over differences of opinion with the largest shareholder, the Israel Corp., about Better Place’s strategic direction. The company, which was founded in Palo Alto, Calif., U.S.A., is based in Tel Aviv.
In December, Julie Mullins, a company spokeswoman who has since left Better Place, said that under Thornley’s direction, Better Place was, “not moving away from battery switching, but [was] also looking to be the network service provider of choice for any EV.” This suggested a strategic shift to EV charging and related software.
Previously, Better Place’s business model had relied on securing automakers’ commitments to make vehicles that would be compatible with its robotic battery-swap stations, which resemble drive-through car washes. Agassi had envisioned a network of stations where motorists could pull in, have their depleted batteries replaced with fully charged units, and return to the road in roughly the amount of time it would take to fill a conventional car with gasoline.
To date, only Renault has agreed to participate, converting a limited number of its electric Fluence sedans, sold only in Europe, for battery swapping.
Better Place Hawaii, which operates EV charging locations but not swapping stations, informed its customers on February 5 about the North American shutdown. In an e-mail to customers, Brian Goldstein, director of Better Place Hawaii, said the company, “will work to ensure continued public charging services for all our Hawaii members.” The company’s web site stated that Better Place offers more than 150 charging points in Hawaii.
In 2011, the State Energy Office of the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism provided US$581,943 in federal stimulus money to Better Place.
With the announcement that its U.S. operations would cease, Better Place withdrew from its plans to build battery-swapping stations for a fleet of electric taxis in San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. In October 2012, the California Energy Commission had approved US$3 million for the eTaxi project, according to Forbes. (February 10, 2013)