Shai Agassi stepped down as chief executive of Better Place, an electric car infrastructure company that is building a network of battery switching stations in Israel, Denmark, Australia and other countries.
He will be replaced by Evan Thornley, the current CEO of Better Place Australia. Shai will continue as a Board Member and a shareholder.
“Under Shai’s leadership, we’ve successfully achieved our goals in the first chapter of Better Place, and we owe Shai our gratitude for turning his powerful vision into a reality,” Idan Ofer, the Israeli billionaire and Better Place chairman, said in a statement. “It is almost five years to the day since Shai launched Better Place and a natural point in the company’s evolution to realign for its second chapter and for the challenges and opportunities ahead.”
Evan’s vision for the future of sustainable transportation in Australia helped to shape the 2020 roadmap embraced by the government and industry. He was instrumental in the creation of EV Engineering Ltd., a collaborative venture between global automotive leaders, to develop and create switchable-battery electric car technology.
Better Place partners with utilities and governments in countries to provide subsidies to make the cost of the electric cars to its customers very low, and partners with car companies like Renault-Nissan Alliance to make the vehicles’ batteries swappable. The customer then pays a subscription service for driving and charging the electric car.
