Better Place's liquidators, Adv. Sigal Rozen-Rechav and Adv. Shaul Kotler, have petitioned the Central District Court to order the closing of four battery replacement stations within 24 hours. Better Place operates 38 battery replacement stations across the country, which ensure that owners of electric cars can drive anywhere in the country without the need to wait for their car batteries to be recharged.
In the petition, the liquidators said, "A review by the liquidators found that the current operating model of the battery replacement companies does not generate revenue for the companies, and involves current maintenance and operating costs of thousands of shekel a day for each station. Operating the stations causes the rapid burning of cash."
They add, "The liquidators are now thoroughly reviewing the battery replacement service and they are examining the impact of reducing their scope, with all that that entails."
Last week, Judge Ilan Shiloh ordered Better Place's liquidators to keep the company operating for a short time, while reducing its expenses. They have already fired some of the company's employees and closed its customer services, and in the report, which they will file with the court in a few days, they intend to request permission to close some of the battery replacement stations.
Today's petition to close four battery replacement stations came before the report was even filed. They want to close the stations at Beit She'an in the Jordan Valley, Kadouri Junction near Nahariya, Beit Shemesh, and in Givat Shaul in Jerusalem (Ginot Sakharov). "The closing of the stations will not affect uninterrupted driving by the companies' customers throughout the country, since there are alternative battery replacement stations near all of them," states the petition. It adds, "The immediate closing of a limited number of stations will enable the companies to study the process of closing the battery replacement stations (which the companies have not yet done, by the way)."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 4, 2013
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