Better Place CEO Resigns, Division's Future Looks Bleak
Better Place Australia’s future is in serious jeopardy after its CEO resigned, amid plans to restrict new investment to Israel and Denmark, Better Place’s main markets.
Evan Thornley, Better Place’s CEO (and a native of Australia), stepped down just three months into the job. A note released to his staff, obtained by The Australian, said:
“…in recent times, strong and honestly held differences have emerged at the most senior levels of the company about how we best take the company forward…I do not wish to be a barrier to that unity and so will step down and let the company transition to new leadership…”
Prior to the New Year, around a quarter of Better Place Australia’s staff was let ago, along with half of the company’s Israeli staff. Thornley’s resignation apparently comes over differences in strategy; with battery swap stations on the ground in Canberra, Australia’s capital city, Thornley’s hometown of Melbourne was next on the list. But with Better Place’s funding situation on shaky ground, the board decided to shift direction and focus on markets like Israel and Denmark, with significant infrastructure and cars that are compatible with BP’s network of battery swap stations.
Thornley relaced founder Shai Agassi as CEO of Better Place, after a dispute with chairman Idan Ofer led to Agassi’s ouster. Now, investors and observers in Israeli are growing frustrated with the company’s substantial cash burn and management changes. Aside from Better Place’s inherently risky nature as a start-up business, the industry seems to be shifting away from their prior EV enthusiasm, with hydrogen fuel-cells suddenly en vogue yet again.
More by Derek Kreindler
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hydrogen fuel cells? Is that coming from the "we are committed to fossil fuels and are trying to keep anything else indefinitely in the future (and pretend we don't know that viable hydrogen production is exclusively fossil fuel based) oil companies or "we are committed to existing car designs in much the same way US car companies from 1970-1990 were committed to land yachts" car companies? Hydrogen: inefficient to generate escapes before use most expensive fuel to use once it even gets to you No wonder W. loved it.
"Thornley’s resignation apparently comes over differences in strategy; with battery swap stations on the ground in Canberra, Australia’s capital city, Thornley’s hometown of Melbourne was next on the list." Better Place haven't rolled out anything in Canberra or any other city. They said in December 2012 they were still 12 months away from opening their first there. This stands to reason because there presently aren't actually any cars available which could use the swapping stations given that the Fluence ZE has been mothballed for the Aus market. http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/A8DB49E29ED55CF8CA257AD300029191 As I always maintained Better Place was never anything more than a ponzi/pyramid scheme aimed at lining Agassi's pockets.
So far as I am aware in Australia they have installed 12 charging sites in a few towns in the South East, no battery-swap stations, and sold no battery-swap compatible cars. They issued a fair number of press releases along the way.
This does look like the end is near. The business model is so inherently flawed that I remain surprised that the company was able to raise so much capital. The effort exhibits such a lack of understanding of the automotive industry that it's stunning to see that it ever got this far.