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Post by eburbsleaf on Feb 13, 2013 22:15:10 GMT 11
See the register : www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/08/better_place_electric_cars_stall/Its a shame - but I can see that they were ahead of the game putting a charging network in before a large enough takeup of electric cars. I've never used better place (mainly because I was an origin customer and didnt want another charging option and cable to carry). |
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Post by Phoebe on Feb 14, 2013 8:24:50 GMT 11
Anyone who reads this article may be curious to know that Evan Thornley is my son. I am glad he has come back to Australia. I might add that I wanted to buy an electric car before he became involved and was not in any way influenced by his involvement. I have never purchased a Chargepoint from anyone and always charged my LEAF on a 15amp power point at home.
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Post by leafboi on Feb 14, 2013 21:55:49 GMT 11
Anyone who reads this article may be curious to know that Evan Thornley is my son. I am glad he has come back to Australia. I might add that I wanted to buy an electric car before he became involved and was not in any way influenced by his involvement. I have never purchased a Chargepoint from anyone and always charged my LEAF on a 15amp power point at home. Interesting, thanks for letting us know! Having an ev advocate for a son must be great!! What are his plans now in the EV field or is he changing completely? If you don't mind.  |
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Post by Phoebe on Feb 15, 2013 4:23:49 GMT 11
At the moment he is having a break and I expect him to come and visit me shortly. At this stage I am not aware of any plans he may have for the future.
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Post by Jim Hare on Feb 15, 2013 7:32:43 GMT 11
That's interesting Phoebe, he must have a lot of insights regarding the state of the EV industry.
I must say I was never a fan of the battery swap station. I think if permanent batteries can soon go 400km plus on a charge that will solve everything and traditional home charging with the occasional field charge should suffice for almost everyone.
Hoping we're just at that in-between stage where the technology isn't for everyone, and we'll see a major uptake with the next generations of EVs.
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Post by leafboi on Feb 15, 2013 8:20:50 GMT 11
At the moment he is having a break and I expect him to come and visit me shortly. At this stage I am not aware of any plans he may have for the future. I'm off to visit my mum today... (In my LEAF) So hopefully him visiting you isn't to far down his to-do list! |
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Post by Phoebe on Feb 15, 2013 13:36:21 GMT 11
I thought battery swap was a wonderful idea when I first heard of it and of course that is what Better Place was set up to do, chargepoints were just something they had to do to get known in Australia before they built the change stations and Renault brought the Fluence ZE to Australia. I knew before the end of last year that Renault were holding over the release of the Fluence ZE because Evan, as CEO of Better Place Australia (at that time), had failed to raise the money to build battery stations nation wide. When Evan took over as CEO of Better Place Gobal, he anticipated raising money to complete the project world wide, so he still had hopes of building battery stations in Australia. When the Chairman of the Board at Better Place insisted that they concentrate on Israel and Denmark, where stations were already functioning, Evan was not prepared to ditch the Australian operation and his colleagues down under, so he resigned. By this time I’d bought my LEAF and realised I didn’t need anybody’s chargepoint so I started to worry about Evan and Better Place. If the Fluence wasn’t coming in the foreseeble future and more people were going to be like me and realise they didn’t need a chargepoint, what was Better Place going to do. I felt very relieved when Evan resigned because he had a falling out with the Chariman of the Board, because what I had originally thought was a wonderful idea, seemed to be becoming completely redundant in Australia. I now realise, as you say, Jim, that Electric Vehicles can probably develop without any of that infrastructure. I still feel a little sad for those still working at Better Place Australia who thought they a had a bright future in an exciting new industry and now find themselves loosing their jobs  |
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Post by duncan on Feb 15, 2013 19:04:27 GMT 11
Excellent insights, thanks Phoebe.
I honestly think that a job where you are trying to do something "right" but still commercial is about the hardest thing you can do.....you just can't assume everyone shares your committment, and even if they do there may be very strong and different views about what is right.
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