Investors still have faith in the Israeli-led Better Place electric car company. After the board fired its visionary founder and CEO Shai Agassi, and laying off half its staff in Israel last month the company has secured a $100 million investment. The company aims to reduce range anxiety of the use of electric cars by providing a switchable electric battery that can be replaced at change stations located throughout a network in as little as five minutes. We’ve featured a couple happy Better Place car owners in Israel, who no doubt will be breathing a little easier about the future of their cars, following the new investment news.
According to Better Place Spokeswoman Julie Mullins the $100 million pledge in electric car financing is in, but the deal isn’t sealed. The Israel Corp. said it will pump some $67 million USD into this round, on top of their previous investments, totalling $250 million. The company has already spent nearly half a billion in developing and deploying its battery charge replacement and charge stations in Israel. Sales amounting to about five hundred or so cars in Israel have been very weak. This new round is to push sales, sources say. The company also has efforts to deploy its network of electric cars in Denmark, even though some Danes strongly believe the charge stations should be green and not blue.
It’s great to hear for investments like these, in electric cars, or any kind of renewable sources.
There’s absolutely no reason at all why the Denmark Better Place battery switching stations should not be green – which indicates clean technology and environmentally friendly transportation. If this color scheme issue doesn’t work for Better Place their investors should cut their losses now and dismantle the company.
Blue works well in Israel because blue is a national color.
They need to find all ways to make their system work. If China. for example, wants their battery switching stations to be red, by all means let them!