Electric car startup Better Place liquidating after $850 million investment

This is a real shame. Shai Agassi is a great visionary, but perhaps Better Place bit off more than it could chew. I had the pleasure of seeing him speak at MIT in 2009, and I think all of us left the room thinking that Better Place was going to lead us into the electric car future. Here is his TED talk: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcoJt2KLC9k" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcoJt2KLC9k</a>

An exec in the renewables sector once told me that battery subsystems in electrics and hybrids were so proprietary and critical to design that the idea of standardizing them across major manufacturers would never happen in the near term. It's a shame; Better Place's model was fascinating (but the idea of being locked into one manufacturer is not appealing).

Discussion: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5770316" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5770316</a><p>Alternate source: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5770284" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5770284</a>

Sometimes you build it and they don't come... hard to tackle big infrastructure as a startup ($850M doesn't sound like much to build a nationwide anything infrastructure).

Is it possible for batteries to progress to the point where they could have 300+ mile range? Or charge in under 10 minutes?<p>If not, it seems like battery switch stations are inevitable.

Is it normal for a company to go down with no indication of it on its webpage?