Since then, several potential purchasers have come forward with offers to purchase Better Place and try to turn it into a going concern. These purchasers included Yosef Abramowitz, a co-founder of the Arava Power solar energy company and known to friends as “Captain Sunshine” ; and an Israeli parking lot network owner, Tzachi Merkur of Success Investments.

Neither Captain Sunshine nor Tzachi Merkur were able to actually come up with the money needed to finalize the deal, which also included the release from the customs authority of 300 Better Place EV cars.

Merkur, who formed a concern called EV Net Group to deal with Better Place, failed to come up at the end of September with 20% of the agreed purchase price of NIS 1.8 ($505,000). Although they did give a post-dated check from a foreign bank, it was not considered by the bankruptcy court as being “acceptable“.

Better Places’ destiny might be tied to a company based in Iceland, Northern Lights Energy, which recently expressed an interest to purchase 1,000 electric SUV’s from AMP Holding Inc. NLE works in both the energy and transportation fields; and has also expressed interest in Better Place. NLE head Gisli Gislason considers Better Place to be “a great value and a great idea. Shai Agassi was a visionary.”

It remains to be seen what will happen next. Local reports are saying that by today Better Place chargers will be disconnected from their power source until bills are paid. You don’t pay, you don’t get a charge.

Photo by Maurice Picow for Green Prophet

More articles on the demise and resurrection attempts for Better Place:

Better Place Taken Over by Parking Garage Company

Can Captain Sunshine Save Better Place?

Interview With a Better Place Car Owner – Not Stranded Yet

The post Latest Purchase Deal for Bankrupt Better Place Company Falls Through appeared first on Green Prophet.

Yosef Abramowitz (a.k.a. Captain Sunshine), Henry Shiner, and the Association for the Promotion of the Electric Car in Israel mobilized with very short notice to take over Better Place Israel and purchase Better Place Switzerland’s intellectual property after the previous owners filed for bankruptcy.

Hi ideas was to sell off the existing Better Place cars waiting at the Israeli port in order to pay off immediate bills, but his plan is backfiring:

“While we won better place assets, govt is denying us 350 cars, which were going to be sold to meet our expenses and payments,” Abramowitz told Green Prophet.

Better Place’s former model teetered on the edge of being monopolistic, Captain Sunshine and his posse of electric vehicle supporters and electric Renault Fluence car owners are completely re-wiring its ethos, or “branding.”

In keeping with the traditional Jewish values behind the Israeli Kibbutz, Sunshine is relying on the crowd and their goodwill to achieve this idealistic re-wiring.

When we first reported the rather jubilant news that the brand new coalition of EV-lovers had been appointed to purchase Better Place, investors had committed to paying one quarter of the funds necessary, but Abramowitz said in a statement at the time that the company needed to raise an additional $36 million.

That was just three weeks ago.

“Sunrise executive Shiner has promised to pay NIS 2 million to Better Place’s liquidation account on Monday in order to close the deal,” Globes reports.

“The payment, ordered by the court, will cover Better Place Israel’s salaries and rent.”

Better Place blew through a lot of cash, so it’s understandable for investors to feel shaky about the company’s new future, but we ought to give Sunrise Ltd. a fighting chance. It and its backers have taken on an enormous risk for virtually zero personal gain.

If Abramowitz’s previous accomplishments are anything to go by, the new Better Place has the potential to function as an engine of cooperation and sharing, one that could eventually have significant environmental benefits as well.

But it will take them time (time they deserve to take given the experimental nature of their business model) in order to raise the appropriate amount of funds and rally supporters who share their strong, anti-capitalistic moral foundation.

Skip over to Globes for a rundown of the nitty gritty.

Update: According to the JPost the court has released the cars, and the show (hopefully) will go on.

The post Better Place EV Buyers are Late with Their Bill appeared first on Green Prophet.