Thank you all for your patience in these past months when we told you
we were in conversations with an auto-maker but couldn't say more.
We're not all the way there, but we're getting closer. We'll have a
new blog entry for this later tonight at
<http://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/power/>.

CalCars/Frank Welcome Ford's "Keen" Interest in Plug-In Hybrids,
Disclose Proposal for First Step

Palo Alto, CA, May 11, 2006: The California Cars Initiative and
University of California at Davis Professor Andy Frank today welcomed
Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) CEO Bill Ford, Jr.'s acknowledgment that the
company is exploring plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technology.

The non-profit group and the engineering professor/inventor of the
modern plug-in hybrid disclosed that they have been in private
discussions with top business and technical executives of the company
since meeting in Dearborn last November. After Mr. Ford responded to
questions about PHEVs and Prof. Frank at the company's annual meeting
by saying, "We have nothing to announce today, but yes, we are keenly
looking at it," CalCars and Prof. Frank released their recent letter
to Bill Ford.

The group plans to rapidly build a small prototype/demonstration
fleet of plug-in hybrids using Ford's Escape Hybrid as a platform.
First customers for the conversions of several dozen SUVs would be
cities, utilities, CEOs, entrepreneurs and celebrities. The vehicles
would demonstrate a range of energy storage and propulsion
components, flex-fuel (E85) capability and other design solutions.

Asking for no money or other resources from the company, the group
has asked Ford to release a statement giving permission to begin
independent work:

"A consortium that includes UC Davis engineering Prof. Andy Frank and
the non-profit California Cars Initiative is starting a project to
demonstrate the potential of the Ford Escape Hybrid to operate as a
plug-in hybrid. There's a growing national interest in this
technology, especially among fleet buyers, to further reduce oil
consumption and greenhouse gases. While Ford focuses on expanding the
adoption of hybrid technology throughout our line, we applaud their
choice of the Escape as a development platform, and we will support
this independent, innovative effort. We delegate Ford advisor and
designer/architect William McDonough to participate in this project."

See the full text of the three-page letter to Bill Ford, "A
partnership for Ford to take the lead in innovation on plug-in
hybrids": <http://www.calcars.org/ford-calcars-frank-8may06.pdf>

Today, Prof. Frank said, "I'm delighted PHEVs and our proposal are
now getting Mr. Ford's personal attention. The next step is to let us
turn the Ford Escape Hybrid into the world's cleanest extended range
production vehicle -- by putting together differently the pieces we
already have." Felix Kramer, Founder of CalCars.org, said, "Ford
built the first hybrid SUV. We hope next Thursday at the White House
meeting of the automotive Big Three, Ford can announce it's taking
the lead on the next generation of advanced vehicles."

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS (PHEVs) finally make hybrid cars live up to their
name by using both gasoline and electricity as fuel. They're like
today's hybrids but with larger batteries and the ability to
re-charge off-peak conveniently from a 120-volt plug, so local travel
is electric, and they retain the extended range of any hybrid. And
compared to gasoline, electricity is cheaper (under $1/gallon
equivalent), cleaner (lower greenhouse gases even on the national
power grid) and comes from domestic sources (3% of US electricity
comes from oil).

PROF. ANDY FRANK is the recognized world leader in plug-in hybrid
technologies, having built nine such vehicles since 1972, including
ground-up PHEV prototypes of Ford Taurus, Sable and Explorer. As
Director of the University of California at Davis Future Automotive
Technology and Engineering Center for Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Dr.
Frank and his engineering students have repeatedly won high honors in
the annual U.S. Department of Energy's Future Car and Future Truck
Challenges. His graduates work in automotive companies worldwide. See
<http://www.team-fate.net>.

THE CALIFORNIA CARS INITIATIVE is a group of entrepreneurs,
engineers, environmentalists and consumers harnessing buyer demand to
bring plug-in hybrids to market by major car-makers. The non-profit
focuses both on public policy and technology development. Formed in
2002, CalCars.org began to get notice in 2004 with the world's first
plug-in hybrid conversion of a Toyota Prius. Since then, awareness
and support for PHEVs has grown among diverse constituencies, leading
to President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative. CalCars will bring a
100+MPG PHEV for the first time to Washington May 17-18 for
demonstrations/drives by Senators, Representatives and other
officials. See <http://www.calcars.org>.

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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/power
http://www.bettah.org
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