Better Place announced that the company has logged its first one million electric kilometers from the electric cars operating on its charging infrastructure in Israel and Denmark.
The company reported that it invested an additional $96 million in the quarter, a majority of which was dedicated to development and deployment of the Battery Switch networks in Israel and Denmark. Better Place also announced that in May it delivered 110 cars to new customers in Israel, averaging five cars per day.
With a total of 55 Battery Switch Stations in both countries in the final stages of testing and certification, following 15,000 switches of batteries in the Battery Switch Stations, the company has expanded deliveries of the first Renault Fluence ZE electric cars with switchable batteries and Better Place mobility services to customers after successfully completing four months of network testing with employees, friends and family.
Battery Switch Stations that have completed their tests are starting to open to first customers in Israel, making Israel the first country in the world where a pure electric car is not limited by the range of its battery. In the coming weeks, the company expects to see additional Switch Stations come online as tests are completed. Nationwide coverage is expected in both markets by the end of the third quarter.
The company expects to continue to make additional investments in network deployment in Israel and Denmark during the second and third quarters of this year with the majority of the investment incurred by the end of the second quarter. At the same time, revenues from kilometers driven on its first two networks will begin to grow as commercial operations expand throughout this year. The company’s operations in Australia will begin Battery Switch Station deployment in Canberra in the second half of this year.
Better Place is backed by a world-class group of investors including HSBC and Israel Corp. that are fully dedicated to the company’s long-term success and view Better Place as a long-term, transformational investment in their portfolio. The company has raised more than $750 million of equity financing to date.
