Better Place electric car Israel assets changed hands in late 2013 after the high-profile EV infrastructure company entered liquidation. Israeli energy company Gnrgy acquired remaining assets for a small fraction of Better Place’s earlier valuation.
Better Place Left Behind Charging and Battery-Swap Infrastructure
Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 8:53PM
Ran Eloya, founder and CEO of Gnrgy Ltd., said his company bought the remaining assets of Better Place for less than $450,000, a fraction of its $2 billion valuation less than two years ago.
Better Place filed for liquidation in May, six years after promising to revolutionize the auto industry by reducing the world’s oil dependency. The company burned through hundreds of millions of dollars building a network of chargers and battery-swapping stations, but experienced poor sales.
For the entire story on BloombergBusinessWeek
Related: other electric mobility developments from the same era.
The Collapse Became an EV Business Case Study
Better Place tried to solve range and charging concerns through battery swapping and dedicated infrastructure. The model required enormous capital and customer adoption at the same time, making execution especially difficult.
For more EV history, see our electric mobility coverage from the same period.
Conclusion
Better Place showed that a bold clean-transportation idea still needs a sustainable business model, compatible vehicles and enough customers to support the infrastructure.
Source: AP/BloombergBusinessWeek reporting referenced in the original post.
