Following Coda and Fisker, Spring of EV Carnage Claims Israeli Startup Better Place [Analysis]

Better Place, the Israeli startup with a drive-in, swap-out system for electric-car batteries, filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. On the back of a napkin, the company's concept made some sense: Instead of recharging an electric car's batteries while the driver waits, use an automated system to remove a depleted battery pack and replace it with a new, fully charged one. If it works for propane grills, why not cars? Reality, that's why. As it turned out, Better Place's strategy merely exacerbated many of the chief problems facing electric cars: cost, complexity, and lack of infrastructure. Battery packs for the electric Renault Fluence sedans used in the program weigh 550 pounds and swapping requires a network of sophisticated stations. Being situated in Israel wasn't just a consequence of the country's recent emergence as a hotbed for computer and biotech startups—the small country is well-suited for electric cars, where long-range driving isn't much of an issue and imported fossil fuels are. But Better Place never intended to limit itself to Israel, where most of the country's seven million citizens live in the crowded, car-unfriendly urban metropoli of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Even with programs begun in Denmark, the Netherlands, and China, the $850 million that Better Place raised in investments wasn't even close to the sum needed to build a robust network of battery-swapping stations. A major global energy company, like BP or ExxonMobil, could probably afford such an endeavor—but such companies' bank accounts makes Better Place look like a Kickstarter project. Four Companies Enter, One Company Leaves In a larger sense, the failures of Better Place, Fisker, and Coda this year are instructive about the still-nascent EV industry. Each company took a different and reasonable approach—Better Place wanted to overcome recharge times with battery swaps, Fisker would deal with range by adding a gasoline engine as a generator, and Coda showed what might be done using mostly off-the-shelf parts and Chinese assembly. In turn, each strategy had its pitfalls. Better Place needed too much infrastructure. Fisker's underdeveloped, heavy cars had lousy electric-only range. Coda's vehicles were unexciting and not very good. Instrumented Test: 2013 Tesla Model S Photos and Info: Face-Lifted 2013 Nissan Leaf EV Feature: A Glimpse Inside BMW's i Electric Project A contrast to these three, Elon Musk's Tesla is sitting pretty. The company's stock traded at record-high prices this week. (That's really driven by investors, smelling quick and easy profits, driving up the price of shares, but it also keeps Tesla flush with cash.) Its quick-charge "Supercharger" stations cost only a fraction of what Better Place's swap spots did, and recharging elsewhere over a 220-volt line isn't absurdly time-consuming. Most important of all, through a combination of careful management and sheer luck, Tesla has emerged with a glistening image. It might be that Tesla's business model—and Elon Musk's fundraising skills, which are exemplary even by Silicon Valley standards—was just superior to the plays by Better Place, Fisker, and Coda. Or, the automotive market might be ready for only one new electric-car company. Whatever the reasons, Tesla deserves credit for its current success. On that note, we also deserve some credit—we made it through this entire article without making a vaudevillian pun about Better Place moving on to, well, you know. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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