Here's the next Prius conversion...this one by
Hymotion, the Ontario company that is using A123
batteries. This is the 18th Prius conversion of
which we are aware. For a list, including contact
info for some of them for people who may want to
arrange public events, see <http://www.calcars.org/where-phevs-are.html>.

Below is the story by leading clean-tech reporter
Tyler Hamilton in the Toronto Star plus this
week's press release by the utility.

<http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_\
Type1&c=Article&cid=1159912238570>

Plug-in Prius: automobile's future?
Veridian CEO modifies hybrid car to get 55 kilometres on a single charge
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada Oct. 4, 2006. 01:29 AM
Tyler Hamilton, Energy Reporter

The future of the automobile could very well be
parked in Michael Angemeer's driveway.

The president and chief executive officer of
Veridian Corp., an electricity distribution
company that serves 106,000 customers east of
Toronto, wouldn't be the first Ontario executive
to drive a Toyota Prius hybrid.

But he is the first to drive a Prius that can be
"filled up" by plugging it into a standard electrical outlet.

Last month, Angemeer took his corporate Prius to
a small company in Concord, Ont., called Hymotion
Canada, which spent just two hours retrofitting
the vehicle with a $14,500 battery system.

A 5-kilowatt lithium-ion battery, designed by
A123Systems Inc. of Watertown, Mass., was dropped
into the trunk where a spare tire used to be, and
a power plug was installed on the left side of the rear bumper.

What Angemeer drove away with was a "plug-in"
hybrid-electric vehicle that can travel 55
kilometres on a single battery charge while using
only a trickle of gasoline for acceleration. Such
a trip might need just 60 cents worth of
electricity — about the cost of a full five-hour
battery charge — and $1.40 worth of gas, based on
mileage of about 2.4 litres per 100 kilometres.

That's almost double the mileage — and less than
half the emissions — of a regular Prius, which
recharges its battery through regenerative braking.

"It's great where you have short hops, such as
driving from work to home and back," said
Angemeer, pointing out that beyond 55 kilometres
the gas engine kicks in and mileage begins to drop.

Veridian, in co-operation with St. Lawrence
College in Kingston, will spend the next few
months studying the performance of the vehicle.
The utility is planning, along with help from
Transport Canada, to do similar retrofits to
General Motors and Ford hybrids that are already in the utility's fleet.

Alternative charging options are included in the
study. Later this month, Veridian will begin
installing a solar panel system at its Ajax
office that will charge Angemeer's car while it's parked at work.

A solar panel is also being installed atop the
car, allowing it to slowly charge while on the go
or parked at another lot — assuming it's sunny.

The main goal, however, is to pressure the auto
makers to embrace plug-in hybrids as a mass-market design.

"Nobody else in Canada has really picked up on
this, and I think it's time to make some noise
about plug-in (vehicle) technology," Angemeer said.

"It's not so much this is the exact car people
are going to buy. It's that we want to show people this is possible."

Veridian is the only Canadian utility and one of
only two Canadian companies (the other is
Toronto-based electric car maker Feel Good Cars)
to become a member of a Texas-based consortium called Plug-In Partner.

The group, whose members include a wide range of
businesses, utilities, municipal governments and
state agencies, aims to show auto makers that
plug-in hybrids represent the best hope of
weaning North America from its oil addiction.

The idea is that the United States could
dramatically shift its dependence away from
foreign oil and toward its own electricity system
based on domestic fuel sources, such as coal, natural gas and wind.

Cars can be plugged in overnight when electricity
is cheapest and in low demand, and then driven in
low-emission mode during the day.

After initial resistance to the concept, both
General Motors and Toyota have acknowledged
research and development aimed at developing plug-in hybrids.

Ricardo Bazzarella, founder and president of
Hymotion, said U.S. municipalities and states
have been much more aggressive about promoting
the idea, while most counterparts in Canada have barely noticed the trend.

Bazzarella makes no illusion about the payback of
plug-in hybrids, acknowledging that the cost of
the system is high and that much work needs to be
done to improve battery technology.

"It's really people who are conscious about the
environment who are doing it," he said.

"They're not necessarily talking about payback
today, but down the road we envision a payback in
three to four years, depending on how high gas prices rise."

A $14,500 system today, for example, is likely to
fall to about $6,500 a year from now, he added.

Info-box: A Hymotion plug-in Prius hybrid
System retrofit cost: $14,500
Installation time: 2 hours
Battery: A123 lithium-ion, 5 kilowatt
Battery life: 6 years, 3,500 charge/discharge cycles
Battery replacement cost: $4,000
Charge time: 5 hours
Cost of full charge: 60 cents
Highway mileage: 2.4 litres per 100 kilometres
Travel per charge: 55 km
Gas/electricity cost: $2
Source: Hymotion Canada



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 12, 2006

Hymotion Helps Veridian Corporation "Plug-in" to Advanced Hybrid Technology

Today Hymotion, a world leader in plug-in hybrid
technology, announced that it had converted
another Prius into a 100 mpg + plug-in hybrid,
this time for Veridian Corporation, a large
Ontario-based utility company. The conversion was
phase one of this showcase project.

The second phase will involve adding solar panels
to the roof of the vehicle and to the roof of
Veridian headquarters for daytime charging. This
second step will be completed by a third Canadian
based company, Solera Sustainable Energies
Company, a leading provider of utility-grid
connected solar power solutions in Canada. Phase
two will commence next month. The original idea
for solar panels on a vehicle came from Steve
Lapp, now of St. Lawrence College.

Hymotion is committed to working with Canadian
companies to demonstrate that sustainable
transportation is doable today. "I think the
public is starting to realize that the future of
the automotive industry is moving more and more
towards being powered by electricity," said
Ricardo Bazzarella, President of Hymotion. "We
want to help demonstrate that sustainable
transportation is here today and is not just a thing of the future."

Michael Angemeer, Veridian's President and CEO,
took possession of the converted Prius in
September. He drives the car on a daily basis,
and reports that he can travel about 55
kilometres on a single battery charge, with just
a little gasoline being used for
acceleration. He says, "It is exciting to be
directly involved in the testing and promotion of
new technology that can help reduce air pollution
and greenhouse gases, lessen our dependence on
foreign oil and make more efficient use of our electricity system."

The Hymotion plug-in Prius will be on prominent
public display as Angemeer travels Ontario's
highways. "We were able to secure the
personalized licence plate 'CONSERVE'," he says.
"We will soon also be adding conservation
messaging to the car to promote the need to be powerWISE."

Veridian's plug-in hybrid car may be unique to
Ontario, but they are being aggressively promoted
in some U.S. jurisdictions. According to
Angemeer, "As a leading electricity distributor
in Ontario, Veridian and its shareholder
communities are very interested in advancing the
use of technologies that contribute to
sustainable energy use. We believe that the
plug-in hybrids have a lot of potential for cars
and larger vehicles, and hope that our project
will drive local interest and further research
and investment in this technology. The vehicle
will showcase overnight charging using less
expensive off-peak electricity through smart
meter technology and solar energy."

Veridian has a number of hybrid vehicles from GM
and Ford in its green fleet and is investigating
retrofits of these vehicles as well as optimizing
the use of ultra low sulfur diesel in its truck fleet.

The plug-in hybrid project is being supported in
part by the LDC (Local Distribution Company)
Tomorrow Fund, a utility industry fund
established to finance research projects that
advance innovation in Ontario's electricity distribution sector.

CAPTION: Michael Angemeer, Veridian CEO, with 2
vehicles from Veridian’s growing green
fleet. The Prius has been modified by Hymotion
to plug in overnight using less expensive
electricity through new smart metering
technology. Solar panels from Solera on the
vehicle and at Veridian headquarters will be
added within a month for daytime charging. The
feasibility of modifying the GM hybrid pickup
with solar panels is also being assessed.

About Veridian Corporation
Through its subsidiary Veridian Connections Inc.,
Veridian Corporation is responsible for
distributing electricity to more than 106,000
customers in the Cities of Pickering and
Belleville, the Towns of Ajax, Port Hope and
Gravenhurst, and the communities of Uxbridge,
Bowmanville, Newcastle, Orono, Port Perry,
Beaverton, Sunderland and Cannington. The
Corporation also owns Veridian Energy Inc., a
Pickering, Ontario based company that provides
business-to-business and fibre optic
communications services. The City of Pickering,
The Town of Ajax, the Municipality of Clarington
and the City of Belleville jointly own Veridian Corporation.

About Solera Sustainable Energies Company
Solera Sustainable Energies Company is a leading
Canadian provider of sustainable energy
solutions. Founded in 1985, Solera has been
providing clean, reliable, maintenance-free solar
electricity for residential, commercial and
institutional applications for more than a
decade. Partnered with Compower Systems Inc., a
more than 25-year-old Canadian manufacturer of
telecommunications power products, Solera offers
the marketplace proven capabilities in
sustainable energy and backup power system
design, engineering, manufacturing, service and
installation, and product supply.
Through innovative products and services, we are
empowering our clients to adopt cleaner, safer,
sustainable energy technologies to assist in
creating a better planet for future generations.
For more information, go to www.soleraenergies.com.

About Hymotion
Hymotion Inc. is a provider of complete
integration for hybrid and fuel cell
systems. Hymotion brings over ten years of
experience in the alternative fuel industry. It
can offer mechanical, electrical, control system
and power electronics design for OEM customers.
At Hymotion, we believe Hydrogen is the power of
choice in the near future, and we see hybrid
power train and alternative flex-fuel as the most
favorable green solution. As a green technology
company, our mission is to provide new generation
hybrid and alternative fuel solutions to
customers that value green and innovative technologies.

- 30 -

Media Enquiries:

For Veridian Corporation
Michael Angemeer
President and CEO
Veridian Corporation
Ph: 905-427-9870, extension 2200

For Hymotion Inc.
Email: tdaly@...
Ph: 519-489-0471

For Solera Sustainable Energies Company
Email: s.smith@...
Ph. 416-910-8112


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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-index.html
http://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/power
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