Better Place Removes Founding CEO

The board of electric car venture Better Place has voted to remove founder Shai Agassi as CEO.

He is being replaced by Evan Thornley, CEO of Better Place Australia; Agassi will still be on the board and remain a shareholder.

Idan Ofer, the chairman of Better Place, said that “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,” Ofer went on to say that Evan has “built an impressive track record, particularly around establishing a strong set of industry partners there.”

Agassi said “five years ago, we announced in New York the formation of Better Place.

At the time, we were viewed as an audacious plan that was mocked by most people in the industry.

Today we are no longer a plan, but a reality – one that drives millions of miles on the roads of two countries.

This physical network will realize the dream of taking countries and the world off their dependency on oil.”

Better Place allows customers to lease the batteries in its electric cars, they can then swap them at battery changing stations and hence extend the range of the cars between charges.