Better Place, the battery swapping network for electric cars, is winding down its Australian and North American operations. However, commentators from the Fifth Estate say the reasons are not so bad.

Read Fifth Estate’s perspective on the story (as at 12 February 2013) here.

Some speculate that the announcement may be a ploy to attract stronger government policies to support community-wide infrastructure in both Australia and the USA although it may also be an acknowledgement of the overwhelming challenges of the dominant petrol car culture in both countries.

On 7 February 2013, Reneweconomy reported that CEO Dan Cohen (who has since resigned) said, “We have demonstrated that Better Place works as a concept,” Cohen said.

“We need to prove to our customers, suppliers and investors that we have a sustainable, scalable model. To do so we are now focusing on realizing the full potential of what we have built, and that means concentrating our resources and energy in the near term, on Denmark and Israel, where we have customers on the road enjoying our switching and charging networks.” Read the Reneweconomy story by Sophie Vorrath here.