ThunderPower Fuel Cell Bus Highlights Stage for Governor Schwarzenegger Signing of "Hydrogen Highway" Order

Electric Vehicle Product Update from ISE Corporation
Volume IV, Issue 3 * 2004.03.31

SACRAMENTO, CA -- A prototype fuel cell bus developed by ISE Corporation (ISE) in partnership with Thor Industries was used on 20 April 2004 to highlight the signing of the "Hydrogen Highway" order by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

By signing the executive order at a morning press conference, Governor Schwarzenegger formalized his pledge for a "hydrogen highway." The event was held at the University of California, Davis - site of one of the country's most advanced centers for the study of alternative transportation systems - where Schwarzenegger said he believes the technology is available to advance hydrogen, but that government needs to act as a catalyst. "As I have said many times, the choice is not between economic progress and environmental protection," the Governor said, adding, "Here in California, growth and protecting our nature beauty go hand in hand."

Schwarzenegger has asked California Environmental Protection Secretary (Cal-EPA) Terry Tamminen to come up with a plan by January 1, 2005, and said he will support legislation that would create tax incentives or public financing proposals that might be needed. Tamminen has said the network proposed by the Governor would provide about 200 stations statewide, in addition to California's 10 existing stations.

The hydrogen highway executive order gives a tremendous boost to ISE's plans to develop and market hydrogen-based hybrid drive systems for heavy-duty vehicles. The "ThunderPower" fuel cell bus exhibited at the Governor's news conference was developed by ISE and Thor in 2000-2002 and subsequently demonstrated in revenue service in several cities in California, including Palm Springs, Chula Vista, Los Angeles, and most recently, Oakland. It was the first fuel cell bus to use a series hybrid-electric drive system to improve the performance of the fuel cell, which was supplied by United Technologies. By accumulating more than 10,000 miles of revenue service with reliability comparable to conventional transit buses, the ThunderPower bus advanced the state of the art of hydrogen propulsion in the U.S. Following the successful demonstration of the ThunderPower bus, ISE was awarded a $10 million contract from AC Transit in Oakland and SunLine Transit in Palm Desert to develop four additional hybrid fuel cell buses, also using United Technologies fuel cells, which are scheduled to be delivered next year. ISE is also assisting Hydrogenics in developing a hybrid fuel cell bus using one of their fuel cells.

In addition to taking a leadership role in developing hybrid fuel cell technology, ISE is developing a hydrogen fueled hybrid bus drive system that uses an internal combustion engine (ICE). In this "poorman's fuel cell," to use ISE's informal term, a Ford engine modified to burn hydrogen is used in conjunction with a Siemens generator to produce electrical power, in lieu of a fuel cell. ISE's first hydrogen "ICE" hybrid bus is scheduled to be completed later this year and delivered to SunLine Transit, following a cold weather demonstration in Canada.

"The Governor's signing of the hydrogen highway executive order demonstrates that the hydrogen movement is picking up momentum," according to Michael Simon, ISE Chairman and Co-CEO. Simon added, "With the establishment of a far-reaching hydrogen fuel infrastructure, the next logical step for California and other states will be to deploy large numbers of zero-emission hydrogen fueled vehicles, including fuel cell and hydrogen ICE powered buses and trucks."

A unique feature of the ISE hybrid fuel cell and hydrogen systems is that they will come equipped with advanced nickel sodium chloride batteries and/or ultracapacitors. These advanced energy storage systems augment the fuel cell (or in the case of the hydrogen ICE, the engine-generator combination), reducing the load on the fuel cell and improving overall vehicle performance. Buses using batteries can also be plugged into the electric power grid to derive part of the bus' operating energy, and can even be used to put energy back into the grid using clean energy produced by the fuel cell. The ThunderPower fuel cell bus proved that the ISE hydrogen hybrid drive systems can achieve greater fuel economy than competing fuel cell systems that do not have onboard energy storage. ISE's ThunderVolt hybrid drive system also makes use of Siemens' highly dependable ELFA motors, motor controllers, and generators.

ISE is a leading supplier of hybrid-electric and fuel cell based drive systems for heavy-duty vehicles such as buses and trucks. In addition to selling complete hybrid-electric drive systems, ISE also sells a variety of electric and hybrid-electric vehicle components and offers a range of vehicle integration and support services. For additional information on ISE's environmentally-friendly, high-performance drive systems and other products, please contact: