Shai Agassi as Steve Jobs

An electric car is an excellent idea. That can't be taken from Shai Agassi. Israel — bereft of oil — is the best possible testing ground, but Better Place hasn't been able to take off because in 2012 the technology for batteries that can offer reasonable mileage for an electric car still isn't ready. What's more, the public just isn't willing to invest in an unproven product, and the bottom line is that the entire project suffers from a lack of financial feasibility.

They say that less than 500 cars have been sold in Israel to date and less than 200 in Denmark. Agassi committed to purchasing 100,000 cars from Renault by 2016. To reach a balance, the company needs to sell 10,000 cars, and it is light-years away from reaching this objective.

The company, which has raised some $750 million since its inception five years ago, has lost some $477 million since the beginning of 2010. The business is bleeding, and the directorate is uneasy.

It's not surprising that few people have jumped on the electric-car bandwagon. The current business model forces us to purchase electric "gas" from a monopolized infrastructure. And really, what happens to a car buyer if Better Place goes bankrupt? The buyer would be left with a useless pile of metal on four wheels. Once the system is disconnected there is no alternative.

There are a few other electric car models in the world with a plug that can charge from ones home, but Better Place wanted us to be dependent on their charging stations. The company also trusted in "green" taxation, which lowered costs.

But just as the government raised taxes on diesel fuel, it can also decide to cancel the "green" benefits and the cost will be the same as regular gasoline. There is no certainty. A single car model also isn't suitable for everybody, especially because these days one can find competitive, cost-effective deals for two-thirds the price.

Evan Thornley's mission is to break even and perhaps even turn a profit, which will require the grunt work of establishing connections with companies that can purchase large fleets of the electric cars. The Israeli market is small and insignificant, but represents a solid test sample. Thornley will need to convince other, bigger countries to invest for the project to succeed. Failure in Israel won't help the company's reputation, and will force it to diminish its importance. The question is how much leeway the directorate will give him.

The removal of Agassi is somewhat reminiscent of the way Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple by a directorate that he himself appointed. But the resemblance to Apple doesn't end there. "Newton" was Apple's first attempt at creating what we know today as the tablet. The computerization strength at that time, however, wasn't conducive for the creation of a worthy product. Apple didn't give up and two years ago it brought us the iPad. Today, Better Place finds itself in the technological era of the "Newton," but the public wants an iPad.

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