FuelCellsWorks

The Company reports that the core design of the natural gas fuel cell system to be delivered
under the Supply Agreement, which incorporates IdaTech’s proprietary fuel reforming
technology, has been completed. Additionally, IdaTech has achieved a significant cost
reduction in this design through numerous technical achievements and by establishing a
highly competitive supply chain. However, the development timeline has taken longer than
originally planned, as it has taken longer for certain component development and to build
the supply chain which is more geographically spread than originally envisaged and now
spans India, China, North America and Europe. Accordingly the fuel cell system will not be
available for delivery to ACME in accordance with the time line specified in the Supply
Agreement. This delay means that a milestone in the product acceptance process is likely to
be missed in October of this year. The Supply Agreement provides for an extension of the
product acceptance process of up to 6 months if an acceptable remediation plan is submitted
by 16 November 2009. Furthermore, to date IdaTech has not been able to achieve the
challenging cost targets to a level that would be profitable at the price level specified in the
Supply Agreement.

Under the terms of the Supply Agreement, missing this particular milestone in the product
acceptance testing process may result in the termination of the Supply Agreement without
penalties to any party. If the Supply Agreement is terminated, this would mean significantly
lower sales for 2010, but the Directors believe it will have no material impact on the timing of
cash breakeven for the Company. A further update and the results for the six months ended
30 June 2009 will be published on 30 September 2009.

The development work on both the natural gas and direct hydrogen fuelled systems over the
past 11 months has brought major benefits to IdaTech with regard to the development of a
global supply chain, significant cost reduction initiatives, technological innovation and system
performance improvements. Many of these benefits will be applicable in the next generation
of methanol – water fuelled systems currently under development and due for launch in 2010.
In the event that the Supply Agreement is replaced by a more flexible agreement it will allow
the Company greater freedom in shifting resources to other programs such as the next
generation methanol systems, as well as modifying the product requirements to meet a
broader range of applications.

The Company believes that its work carried out to date has validated that there is a value
proposition for fuel cell systems in the fast growing Indian telecommunications backup
market, with higher efficiency and lower maintenance costs than the incumbent diesel
generators and battery banks. In addition, IdaTech launched the ElectraGenTM H2 in July;
these 300 systems are currently being built in IdaTech’s Mexican manufacturing facility and
are being shipped to ACME over the remainder of the year. Field trial data indicate these
systems are performing very well in difficult environments and hitting their performance
targets.

Commenting on the update, Hal Koyama, CEO said:
“IdaTech has made tremendous technical progress over the last year, driven by the focus of
the ACME Supply Agreement. Working with our partner Ballard, we have broken through a
significant number of the cost barriers once thought unachievable with current technology
and added core pieces of new technology to our portfolio, simultaneously moving the bar on
PEM fuel cell cost and performance in a very significant way. We can now see that the
Indian market is a key area for the initial mass application of fuel cell products and we have
one of the best partners in that market. This program has also added the natural gas
product to our portfolio, with market applications that go beyond telecommunications backup
power. We look forward to continue working with ACME to develop the Indian market for the
range of IdaTech products.”

Atul Sabharwal, Chief Operating Officer of ACME commented:
“ACME is also disappointed with this delay, but feels as strongly as ever that a substantial
market opportunity exists for fuel cells in wireless telecom backup and other applications in
India, where a reliable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution is greatly needed”

LOS ANGELES–Vision Industries Corp. (OTCBB: VIIC – News), is exhibiting its zero emission plug-in electric/hydrogen fuel cell hybrid TyranoT truck at the 4th annual Santa Monica Alternative Energy and Transportation Expo on Friday Oct. 2 & Saturday Oct. 3 from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM daily.

Location: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401.

Martin Schuermann, President & CEO of Vision stated, “The City of Santa Monica has a proven track record of promoting and implementing green technologies. We are pleased to be invited to this prestigious expo and welcome all visitors to drop by for a close-up with our Tyrano truck.”

About Vision Industries Corp.

Vision is a provider of hydrogen fuel cell/plug-in electric powered vehicles and turnkey hydrogen fueling systems. Vision’s proprietary hydrogen fuel cell/plug-in electric drive system combines the superior acceleration of a battery powered electric vehicle with the extended range provided by a hydrogen fuel cell. Vision uses major manufacturers as partners or sub contractors to produce its vehicles. This business approach avoids massive outlays of startup capital. Many regional, state and federal alternative energy programs in the form of grants, subsidies, tax credits and loans exist or are planned. For more information on Vision Industries Corp., please visit www.visionindustriescorp.com.

The exceptional feature of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid is its outstanding environmental friendliness. The bus emits absolutely no pollutants while in motion, and it’s also virtually silent, making it ideal for use in highly congested inner cities and metropolitan areas.

Daimler has received the F-Cell Award for innovative use of fuel cell technology in the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid urban bus. Two employees accepted the award on behalf of Daimler last Monday during the F-Cell Conference in Stuttgart. “We are very delighted about this award as it once again highlights our innovative skill as the world’s largest bus manufacturer and also helps take us a big step toward our goal of zero-emission driving,” said Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses. “The award confirms that we also are the technology leader in the area of alternative drive technologies.”

The F-Cell Award was presented by Baden-Württemberg’s Environmental Ministry, Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH, and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG for the ninth time. The innovation award established by the state of Baden-Württemberg honors application-oriented developments related to fuel cells.

Together with their teams, the Daimler employees Monika Kentzler and Wolfram Fleck from “E-Drive and Future Mobility” and Michael Edig from EvoBus GmbH were instrumental in the development of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid. “We are proud that these three employees, as well as the many others who were involved in the project, achieved such a great feat,” says Hartmut Schick. “It demonstrates how commitment and interdisciplinary cooperation can result in pioneering solutions.”

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid made its public debut last June at the UITP Congress in Vienna. The fuel cell hybrid bus is the first member of Daimler Buses’ new generation of fuel cell buses. It combines the advantages of the diesel-electric Citaro G BlueTec Hybrid, which had been unveiled a few months earlier, with those of the hydrogen-powered Citaro fuel cell buses.

The exceptional feature of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid is its outstanding environmental friendliness. The bus emits absolutely no pollutants while in motion, and it’s also virtually silent, making it ideal for use in highly congested inner cities and metropolitan areas.

Later this year Daimler Buses will produce a small batch of about 30 vehicles from this new generation of fuel cell buses and offer them to European mass transit companies. The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid bus will undergo extensive testing in several cities throughout Europe. This test series will proceed along the lines of the successful CUTE fleet test conducted by the European Union between 2003 und 2006. Since 2003 a total of 36 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses equipped with fuel cell drives have displayed top performance for 12 public transport agencies on three continents as part of the CUTE test and other related testing programs. In approximately 135,000 hours of operation, during which the buses covered a total of more than two million kilometers, the environmentally friendly fuel cell drive system impressively demonstrated its ability to function properly under everyday operating conditions.

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid was developed within the framework of Daimler’s global commercial vehicle initiative “Shaping Future Transportation.” The aim of this initiative is to use clean, efficient drive systems along with alternative fuels to realize zero-emission commercial vehicles for tomorrow’s transportation needs. The Shaping Future Transportation initiative includes using resources sparingly and reducing emissions of every kind while at the same time guaranteeing maximum traffic safety.

Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service

Taiwanese researchers have built a new mobile-phone recharger based on fuel cell technology they say will cost little once manufacturing partners are on board.

The handset rechargers, which contains the fuel cell, will cost around US$30, while the fuel itself will come in small blue plastic tubes for about US$0.30 each, said Jerry Ku, a researcher at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, a government funded lab in Taiwan.

“The fuel canisters are inexpensive and small. They could be sold at 7-Eleven,” he said.

The real innovation by ITRI is the fuel for the recharger, plasticized solid-state hydrogen. The plastic is soft enough that it can be shaped to suit the needs of different devices. It’s designed to react with water to release the hydrogen to a fuel cell to produce electricity.

Commonly, electricity is produced in a fuel cell when oxygen reacts with hydrogen, giving off water as a by-product. Fuel-cell technology is viewed as more environmentally friendly than traditional batteries because the chemicals used are typically more earth friendly than those in regular batteries.

ITRI has already created working prototypes of the mobile phone charger and the blue fuel tubes, which house the plasticized solid-state hydrogen and water. The research group has already started developing laptop battery chargers as well, but Ku was unable to say when prototypes might be ready.

People using the handset recharger will get a two-hour charge per $0.30 tube of fuel, then they’ll need to buy a new tube.

There are other kinds of fuel cells.

Toshiba has been promising a portable battery charger for electronic devices based on a DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell). In DMFCs, methanol, water and air react to produce electricity, giving off a small amount of water vapor and carbon dioxide as by-products. The methanol needed for the chargers will come in cartridges.

The company has said its first DMFC charger could be out within the next few months, though it was originally due out earlier this year.

TOKYO, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Nippon Oil Corp, Japan’s largest refiner, said on Wednesday it will make smaller fuel cells using ceramics from Kyocera Corp to power homes and meet growing demand for alternative energy sources.

Nippon Oil aims to make smaller and more efficient solid oxide fuel cells by the financial year ending March 2012 to target apartments, and could expand its lineup to fuel cells with more power for commercial use, a spokesman said.

The fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen extracted from liquid petroleum gas, emitting water vapour instead of global warming emissions. The refiner will continue its existing venture with Sanyo Electric Co to make proton exchange fuel cells, which are less efficient than solid oxide fuel cells but can vary output quickly.

It hopes to expand its total sales of fuel cells to more than 40,000 units by March 2016, the spokesman said.

Kyocera also jointly develops solid oxide fuel cells for residential use with Osaka Gas, Toyota Motor Corp ( TM – news – people ) and Aisin Seiki Co.

Japanese makers of fuel cells also include Toshiba Corp ( TOSBF.PK – news – people ) , Panasonic Corp, Mitsubishi Materials ( MIMTF.PK – news – people ) Corp and Toto Ltd.

(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Joseph Radford)