Design Article
Battery-replacement vendor Better Place continues meltdown
Brian Fuller
1/25/2013 4:11 PM EST
Better Place, the Israeli-owned company with ambitions to build an
electric-vehicle services infrastructure to lessen oil dependence,
continues to struggle with management and its business model. This
week, CEO Evan Thornley (pictured nearby) left the company just three months after the
company's founder, Shai Agassi, was
ousted.
Since late fall, Better Place laid off 140 of its 400 employees in Israel and is reportedly eyeing another 150-200 cuts. Better Place in November sold just 23 cars, and the Israeli business publication Globes has reported that leasing companies have frozen orders to the firm. In addition to Agassi's ouster, CFO and Israel CEO Moshe Kaplinsky and several senior VPs have left the company.
Idan Ofer, chairman of the Board of Better Place, will assume the role of executive chairman, while Alan Gelman, global CFO for Better Place, will manage day-to-day operations. Ofer, worth $6 billion, inherited--along with his older brother--his fortune from their father, shipping magnate Sammy Ofer.
“Evan stepped up at a critical junction for Better Place,” Ofer said in a prepared statement.
In the fall, Better Place, which hadn't turned a profit, raised $750
million from investors such as General Electric, but reportedly
burned through $500 million in development costs and suffered
development delays. In early November it secured
an additional $100 million in investment.
Better Place's vision for an "Electric Vehicle Network Services" world spans the ecosystem from the electric vehicles it envisions for the roads to the network and the battery-replacement business model itself.
One of the company's early successes was with Renault's Fluence Z.E., which features a wound rotor synchronous motor, with 70 kW maximum power of 70 kW. Its lithium-ion battery has an energy capacity of 22 kWh, compared, for example, with the Chevrolet Volt's 16 kWh capacity. Its range is rated at 50-200 miles, depending on driving conditions. The battery charges on a 220V home charge in about six hours or five minutes using the "QuickDrop" Better Place replacement system.
The battery technology claims 3,000 charging cycles, or a lifetime of about 6-10 years. Batteries weigh 500-600 pounds and are removed and replaced at the car's under carriage. Better Place's network of battery-swap stations are automated, using robots to remove and replace batteries while the driver waits inside the car. The process takes five minutes. The removed battery is automatically shifted to a charge port and rapidly recharged.
Better place also has a novel subscription business model in which the car owner pays $350 a month not only for the battery, but a home charge system and free access to a nearby QuickDrop station.
Related stories:
--Shai Agassi ousted as CEO of Better Place
--Silicon Valley Nation: Lessons from Shai Agassi's downfall
Since late fall, Better Place laid off 140 of its 400 employees in Israel and is reportedly eyeing another 150-200 cuts. Better Place in November sold just 23 cars, and the Israeli business publication Globes has reported that leasing companies have frozen orders to the firm. In addition to Agassi's ouster, CFO and Israel CEO Moshe Kaplinsky and several senior VPs have left the company.
Idan Ofer, chairman of the Board of Better Place, will assume the role of executive chairman, while Alan Gelman, global CFO for Better Place, will manage day-to-day operations. Ofer, worth $6 billion, inherited--along with his older brother--his fortune from their father, shipping magnate Sammy Ofer.
Former Better Place CEO Evan Thornley
“Evan stepped up at a critical junction for Better Place,” Ofer said in a prepared statement.
Better Place's vision for an "Electric Vehicle Network Services" world spans the ecosystem from the electric vehicles it envisions for the roads to the network and the battery-replacement business model itself.
One of the company's early successes was with Renault's Fluence Z.E., which features a wound rotor synchronous motor, with 70 kW maximum power of 70 kW. Its lithium-ion battery has an energy capacity of 22 kWh, compared, for example, with the Chevrolet Volt's 16 kWh capacity. Its range is rated at 50-200 miles, depending on driving conditions. The battery charges on a 220V home charge in about six hours or five minutes using the "QuickDrop" Better Place replacement system.
The battery technology claims 3,000 charging cycles, or a lifetime of about 6-10 years. Batteries weigh 500-600 pounds and are removed and replaced at the car's under carriage. Better Place's network of battery-swap stations are automated, using robots to remove and replace batteries while the driver waits inside the car. The process takes five minutes. The removed battery is automatically shifted to a charge port and rapidly recharged.
Better place also has a novel subscription business model in which the car owner pays $350 a month not only for the battery, but a home charge system and free access to a nearby QuickDrop station.
Related stories:
--Shai Agassi ousted as CEO of Better Place
--Silicon Valley Nation: Lessons from Shai Agassi's downfall
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
William Miller
3/1/2013 9:06 AM EST
This business sounds interesting in one condition - the greater number of EV on the US roads. Still oil companies have the upper hand.. But someday, one day everything will change for better - EV percentage will get bigger with clearer air for us and green banknotes for Better Place))
_____________
William - http://www.carid.com/
Sign in to Reply