Better Place founder Shai Agassi.
One of the founders of the “e-mobility” movement has been honored with an award named after the inventor of the automobile. Shai Agassi , founder of A Better Place, which has offered a unique solution for getting electric vehicles on the road, has received the first Bertha-Carl-Benz Award from the city of Mannheim, Germany.
“Shai Agassi has inspired us with his contribution to mobility and addressing the climate challenge and it is because of his efforts that we have awarded him this special gift,” said Mannheim Mayor Dr. Peter Kurz.
A graduate of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Agassi was a rising star in the information technology field, having founded several fast-growing start-ups, including Quicksoft Ltd. In 2007, he was considered the likely next CEO of IT giant SAP. But in 2008, with the Israeli government pressing to set up an electric vehicle network, Agassi raised $111 million to fund what became A Better Place.
Working with partners including Renault and Nissan, Agassi developed an unusual approach to battery power that would sidestep two of the critical problems with electric vehicles — limited range and long charge times – by allowing a motorist to simply swap out batteries about as quickly as it would take to re-fuel a conventional vehicle.
Better Place expanded into Denmark in 2009, raising another $135 million, and Agassi says it has since been negotiating with 25 other countries.
Agassi said he was “humbled and honored to receive the award.”
“Carl Benz invented an industry 125 years ago,” noted the 43-year-old Israeli, “allowing people all around the world to travel freely distances that were not imagines with ease and experiences that define our life. Many doubted the potential of the gasoline car and it was Bertha Benz who kept her husband’s dream alive with her pragmatism and positive thinking to create that revolution.”
While today’s automobile is simple to use, Agassi noted in his speech that it wasn’t always that way, and that it took time to overcome the hurdles of the internal combustion engine, much as he is trying to do with the battery car.
“On her first trip that started here in Mannheim, (Bertha Benz) had to search for pharmacies in every town she passed so as to extend her journey. Today, her journey is possible to travel in an electric car, with a GPS that will show a driver where she can switch a battery and come back.
“No need to look for a pharmacy, or wait for a battery to charge. It is my hope that we continue to keep Bertha and Carl’s innovative and fearless spirit alive as we approach this new era of transportation, and come together as industry to bring electric cars to the masses,” he said as he accepted the award from Lord Mayor Kurz.
In 1886 Carl Benz invented the automobile in Mannheim, and on the 125th Anniversary of the momentous invention the city of Mannheim named the first Bertha and Carl-Benz Award, an award presented to people who have rendered outstanding services within the field of improved mobility.
“The development of new concepts of mobility is one of the great challenges of the coming years,” said Mannheim’s Lord Mayor. “Shai Agassi was selected for his outstanding commitment to a model for the development of new and future-oriented mobility concepts, as well as solving other global challenges of the future.”
The jury, which considered 18 different nominees, said, “Shai Agassi combines vision and innovation with technical expertise and entrepreneurial experience. In addition, he drives a strong social responsibility to help solve the current and future challenges of climate protection. This prompted him to quit his successful career in the IT sector and to engage in the new field of “e-mobility.” With his company Better Place, Shai Agassi acts as a model for those striving to take on large challenges related to climate change and new mobility concepts.”
The Benz Award is just the latest in a series of honors for Agassi. He was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine, in 2009, and one of the 100 most influential thinkers by Foreign Policy a year later. Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, declared the approach being developed by Better Place a “paradigm shift.”