Better Place, the company that built 77 electric vehicle charging stations in Hawaii before departing the state, said Tuesday it has sold its island operations to an Oregon-based firm.

Portland-based OpConnect will take over the charging stations and replace them with OpConnect units, officials from the two companies said in a news release.

OpConnect operates 18 EV charging stations around the country, including two on Maui. Most of its mainland stations are installed at military bases, hotels and rental car locations.

"Hawaii’s Better Place network is a unique opportunity to accelerate our plans to serve drivers and property owners here," said Dexter Turner, OpConnect president and chief executive officer.

Better Place offered a subscription-based model that featured swipe cards used by members to access their accounts when they plugged in at a Better Place charging station. The company had about 700 members in Hawaii. While Better Place had waived subscription costs since its entry into the Hawaii market, it had planned to eventually charge for memberships.

The sale price for the Better Place network was not disclosed. As part of the deal, OpConnect will take over Better Place’s computer systems, membership agreements and contracts with property owners who host Better Place charging stations.

Better Place announced in January that it was shutting down its operations in the United States as part of a restructuring of the company, based in Israel.

Better Place was not able to win public support for a proposed network of battery-swap stations in the U.S. The stations replace spent batteries with fully charged ones in about five minutes and are a quicker alternative to plug-in charging that can take 30 minutes to six hours depending the power of the charger.

Better Place officials said they will focus on expanding the company’s small network of battery-swap stations in Israel and Denmark.