It was a shock of sorts when I read that Better Place's CEO Dan Cohen formally announced bankruptcy.
In my seven year career as an automotive industry analyst, Better Place is the first company that I have seen from boom to bust.
It was for an electric vehicle (EV) / battery technology market sizing and monitoring study for a German luxury OEM in 2007-08 that I first came across Better Place. Conceived and started by the charismatic Shai Agassi, it was one of the most talked about new ventures. What I heard was that Shai and former Israeli prime minister Simon Perez are close friends and it was after Shai introduced Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn and Simon Perez that the whole Better Place and Renault partnership took off (with Renault investing an undisclosed amount in the now bankrupt company).
While most OEMs and utility providers were figuring out ways for the mass acceptability of EVs (which were not gaining traction due to the short driving range and long battery charging time), Shai came out with a smart alternative of replacing the battery pack altogether when an EV was low on charge. The idea seemed so appealing that Renault developed a proprietary technology called "Quick Drop" exclusively for Better Place; where Renault Fluence EV owners could drive in and replace the battery packs in around 10 minutes, the same time it takes for a conventional fossil fuel car to refill.
But Shai's solution was not well accepted by users, mostly due to the following issues.
UPDATE: Another very interesting article I came across today (30 May 2013)
In my seven year career as an automotive industry analyst, Better Place is the first company that I have seen from boom to bust.
It was for an electric vehicle (EV) / battery technology market sizing and monitoring study for a German luxury OEM in 2007-08 that I first came across Better Place. Conceived and started by the charismatic Shai Agassi, it was one of the most talked about new ventures. What I heard was that Shai and former Israeli prime minister Simon Perez are close friends and it was after Shai introduced Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn and Simon Perez that the whole Better Place and Renault partnership took off (with Renault investing an undisclosed amount in the now bankrupt company).
While most OEMs and utility providers were figuring out ways for the mass acceptability of EVs (which were not gaining traction due to the short driving range and long battery charging time), Shai came out with a smart alternative of replacing the battery pack altogether when an EV was low on charge. The idea seemed so appealing that Renault developed a proprietary technology called "Quick Drop" exclusively for Better Place; where Renault Fluence EV owners could drive in and replace the battery packs in around 10 minutes, the same time it takes for a conventional fossil fuel car to refill.
But Shai's solution was not well accepted by users, mostly due to the following issues.
- Better Place solely focused on battery swaps while ignoring the quintessential aspect of faster charging, which is what customers want
- Battery swaps still did not reduce range anxiety for EV owners and what really was the need of the hour was more charging infrastructure in public places and along highways
- Wrong choice of car — the markets where the Better Place - Renault "quick drop" program was launched (Denmark and Israel) prefer compact cars, mostly hatchback. Unfortunately, the pilot vehicle for the project was the Renault Fluence
- Lastly, and maybe the most crucial reason was that other EV OEMs did not follow suit. Apart from Renault, none of the other OEM bought the concept of battery swap. Even one more OEM with battery swap could have saved, or at least delayed, Better Place's fall.
UPDATE: Another very interesting article I came across today (30 May 2013)
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