Wikipedia's first sentence called it “venture-backed company based in palo alto”. Today it says “venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery charging and battery switching services fo”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2010
Better Place is a venture-backed company based in Palo Alto, California that aims to reduce global dependency on petroleum through the creation of a market-based transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles . According to Shai Agassi , the company's founder and CEO, his vision was inspired by a profound question asked by Klaus Schwab at the 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland : "How do you make the world a better place by 2020?" Better Place is building its first electric vehicle network in Israel , and among its partners has selected Denmark and Hawaii as the other two test markets due to their small size. The electricity needed may be generated by renewable energy from solar arrays and wind farms , but in fact would use the grid's electricity, which is based mostly on fossil fuels. Denmark and Israel have enacted policies, which create a tax differential between zero-emission vehicles and traditional cars, to accelerate the transition to electric cars . Better Place plans to deploy the infrastructure on a country-by-country basis with initial deployments beginning in 2010 and commercial sales beginning in 2012. The company has said it is in talks with more than 25 additional regions around the world. Australia , Ontario , Oregon , and California also have announced deployment of Better Place electric car networks.1The Company opened its first functional charging station in Israel the first week of December 2008 at Cinema City in Pi-Glilot, and additional stations in Tel Aviv , Haifa , Kfar Sava , Holon , and Jerusalem are being planned and installed.2Better Place's primary R&D facility is located in Tel Aviv , Israel . The Breakthrough Institute. 2008-05-13 . "San Francisco area aims to become electric car capital" . 2008-11-25 .3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 370496631.
The opening as it stood in 2015 10 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Better Place was a venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery-charging and battery-switching services for electric cars .It was formally based in Palo Alto, California , but the bulk of its planning and operations were steered from Israel , where both its founder Shai Agassi and its chief investors resided.The company opened its first functional charging station the first week of December 2008 at Cinema City in Pi-Glilot near Tel Aviv , Israel The first customer deliveries of Renault Fluence Z.E. electric cars enabled with battery switching technology began in Israel in the second quarter of 2012, and at peak in mid September 2012, there were 21 operational battery-swap stations open to the public in Israel.Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel in May 2013.The company's financial difficulties were caused by mismanagement, wasteful efforts to establish toeholds and run pilots in too many countries, the high investment required to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure, and a market penetration far lower than originally predicted by Shai Agassi.Less than 1,000 Fluence Z.E. cars were deployed in Israel and around 400 units in Denmark, after spending about US$850 million in private capital.After two failed post-bankruptcy acquisition attempts, the bankruptcy receivers sold off the remaining assets in November 2013 to Grngy for only $450,000.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 662699498.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Better Place was a venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery-charging and battery-switching services for electric cars . It was formally based in Palo Alto, California , but the bulk of its planning and operations were steered from Israel , where both its founder Shai Agassi and its chief investors resided. The company opened its first functional charging station the first week of December 2008 at Cinema City in Pi-Glilot near Tel Aviv , Israel The first customer deliveries of Renault Fluence Z.E. electric cars enabled with battery switching technology began in Israel in the second quarter of 2012, and at peak in mid September 2012, there were 21 operational battery-swap stations open to the public in Israel. Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel in May 2013. The company's financial difficulties were caused by mismanagement, wasteful efforts to establish toeholds and run pilots in too many countries, the high investment required to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure, and a market penetration far lower than originally predicted by Shai Agassi. Less than 1,000 Fluence Z.E. cars were deployed in Israel and around 400 units in Denmark, after spending about US$850 million in private capital. After two failed post-bankruptcy acquisition attempts, the bankruptcy receivers sold off the remaining assets in November 2013 to Gnrgy for only $450,000. "מנכ"ל בטר פלייס: "מחיר הדלק עוזר לרכב החשמלי" - וואלה! עסקים וצרכנות" .The Billion-Dollar Crash of the Startup that Took on Big Auto, Big Oil and the World .The Atlantic . 2013-05-26 .The New York Times .Globes Publisher Itonut Ltd. : CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ( link ) "Gnrgy buys Better Place for the price of an apartment in Tel Aviv" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965386543.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American electric car battery charging company Better Place was a venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery charging and battery switching services for electric cars . It was formally based in Palo Alto, California , but the bulk of its planning and operations were steered from Israel , where both its founder Shai Agassi and its chief investors resided. The company opened its first functional charging station the first week of December 2008 at Cinema City in Pi-Glilot near Tel Aviv , Israel . The first customer deliveries of Renault Fluence Z.E. electric cars enabled with battery switching technology began in Israel in the second quarter of 2012, and at peak in mid September 2012, there were 21 operational battery-swap stations open to the public in Israel. Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel in May 2013. The company's financial difficulties were caused by mismanagement, wasteful efforts to establish toeholds and run pilots in too many countries, the high investment required to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure, and a market penetration far lower than originally predicted by Shai Agassi. Fewer than 1,000 Fluence Z.E. cars were deployed in Israel and around 400 units in Denmark, after spending about US$850 million in private capital. After two failed post-bankruptcy acquisition attempts, the bankruptcy receivers sold off the remaining assets in November 2013 to Gnrgy for only $450,000. The Billion-Dollar Crash of the Startup that Took on Big Auto, Big Oil and the World . The Atlantic . 2013-05-26 . The New York Times . Globes Publisher Itonut Ltd. : CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ( link ) "Gnrgy buys Better Place for the price of an apartment in Tel Aviv" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1153611359. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “venture-backed company based in palo alto”. Today it says “venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery charging and battery switching services fo”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
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2020
Oct '23
2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
venture-backed company based in palo alto
Now
venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery charging and battery switching services fo
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
