Better Place announced from Tel Aviv on 2 October the promotion of Evan Thornley, Chief Executive Officer of Better Place Australia, to Chief Executive of the global company. Better Place founder and until now, Chief Executive Officer Shai Agassi will continue as a board member and shareholder.
Over the past five years, Agassi has pioneered an EVSE network model incorporating both public-access charging points and automated battery switch stations compatible with some of Renault’s Z.E. electric drive models, in which users are charged for the assurance of mobility rather than owning or leasing their EVs’ batteries.
Better Place has so far opened networks in Israel and Denmark. In August it obtained €40m of loan finance from the European Investment Bank, and on 3 September launched a trial electric taxi service at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, with the support of the European Commission, the Dutch and Danish governments, and the airport’s owners.
“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,” said Idan Ofer, Chairman of the Better Place board of directors. “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.”
“In his four years as CEO of Better Place in Australia, Evan has built an impressive track record, particularly around establishing a strong set of industry partners there. Evan brings the right combination of entrepreneurship and coalition and team building to take Better Place to the next level,” Ofer continued.
Thornley will become the firm’s global Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. He joined Better Place in 2009, and was instrumental in the creation of EV Engineering Ltd, a collaborative venture to develop and create switchable-battery EV technology. Thornley founded one of the first Australian technology companies to be listed on the NASDAQ.
“Five years ago, I followed my passion to make the world a better place and founded a company to materialise that vision. Very few people are blessed to see such a grand vision become a proven reality within a relatively short time frame,” said Agassi. “I am proud of the Better Place people and the team that I am leaving behind who will take this company to the next chapter.”
