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SAN DIEGO, CA — ISE Corporation (ISE) achieved another significant milestone this month by achieving a production rate of 100/year in manufacturing of the company’s ThunderVolt® hybrid-electric drive systems. ISE initiated commercial manufacturing of its fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly hybrid systems after successfully completing federally-mandated testing of its drive system in Altoona, PA this past summer. The ThunderVolt® hybrid system – designed for large transit buses and heavy trucks – proved itself to be highly durable during eight months of Altoona testing in a New Flyer 40-foot bus, after which the bus was driven cross-country and demonstrated at more than a dozen transit agencies from coast to coast.
ISE is manufacturing its the ThunderVolt® hybrid system in response to growing demand from bus operators, which are under increasing pressure to reduce transit vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. ISE’s production line is currently set up to manufacture its unique gasoline hybrid system, the cleanest commercially-available bus drive system and the first hybrid system to be certified by the California Air Resources Board for use in bus applications.
Achievement of the 100/year production milestone is just the first step in ISE’s plan to establish the ThunderVolt® hybrid system as the most widely-used hybrid bus drive system in the world.
 By mid-2005, ISE plans to have a second production line focused on manufacturing of diesel hybrid drive systems. The diesel variant of ISE’s ThunderVolt® system has been successfully demonstrated in a fleet of three Nova RTS buses operated by New Jersey Transit, which have accumulated more than 50,000 miles of revenue service while achieving an unprecedented average fuel economy of 5.6 miles per gallon.
Following inauguration of its diesel hybrid production line, ISE intends to begin large scale manufacturing of its unique hydrogen hybrid internal combustion engine (“HHICE”) drive system, which is undergoing final testing in a New Flyer bus that will enter revenue service in early 2005. The HHICE bus uses a Ford internal combustion engine converted to run on hydrogen, achieving environmental and efficiency benefits comparable to that of a fuel cell, at a fraction of the cost.
“With our gasoline, diesel, and hydrogen hybrid systems, ISE offers bus and truck operators three great ways to reduce operating costs and emissions, while helping to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” stated Michael Simon, ISE Chairman of the Board. To support its expansion to three active hybrid system production lines, ISE recently signed a 7-year lease on a new 46,000 square foot manufacturing facility, to which the company will move in the first quarter of 2005. By 2006, ISE plans to have a manufacturing capacity of at least 300 drive systems per year.
All three variants of the ThunderVolt® hybrid system are based on the same core components, simplifying ISE’s task of producing hybrid systems using three different fuels. All ISE hybrid systems use Siemens ELFA® motors, generators, and controllers – the most proven hybrid bus components in the world. Another common ThunderVolt® component is ISE’s unique energy storage system, which uses a pack of 288 Maxwell ultracapacitors instead of batteries.
All three versions of the ThunderVolt® hybrid drive system are compatible with just about any bus or truck model. The majority of the gasoline hybrid systems produced on ISE’s existing line will be used in New Flyer low-floor buses, which will be delivered to Long Beach, Norwalk, Montebello, Orange County, Fresno, and other California municipalities in mid-2005. ISE is also producing gasoline hybrids for Gillig standard-floor buses in a partnership with Complete Coach Works.
In total, ISE has demonstrated or is planning to demonstrate its ThunderVolt® hybrid drive system in ten different bus models, and is developing a variant of the ThunderVolt® system for military trucks, in collaboration with the U.S. Army and Stewart & Stevenson.
Further illustrating the versatility of this system, ISE is continuing small-scale production of a ThunderVolt® variant that runs on fuel cell power. A ThunderVolt® hybrid bus using a United Technologies fuel cell recently completed two years of successful service with California transit agencies, and four new fuel cell buses using ThunderVolt® drive systems will be completed and deployed in 2005. ISE also has plans to develop a ThunderVolt® variant that runs on natural gas.
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