Yesterday's announcement from Better Place that they would liquidate leaves some serious questions for the relatively few customers they actually have. When BP started offering Renault Fluence electric car in Israel, they took a different approach from other manufacturers.
Customers could buy or lease the car itself but the battery was not included for that price, making it essentially a brick. Just as you can't buy a smartphone from a US carrier today without signing up for 2-year data plan, Better Place customers had to pay separately for lease on the battery. That lease entitled customers to get charging at public stations and battery swaps at BP change stations.
Presumably those customers will get to keep the battery they have now, and keep plugging it in, but we don't know. With a conventional purchase, if the company such as Fisker goes belly up, you still have the car and can drive it as long as it keeps running.
Will anyone else try this approach in the future? Will customers try the approach?
Renault will end Better Place partnership after bankruptcy filing
Renault is ending a five-year partnership with Better Place LLC after the operator of electric-vehicle charging stations announced plans to shut down. The two companies have worked together in Israel and Denmark since 2008.
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I hope that it means drivers can carry on driving their cars… but anything is possible.