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To: Don Devlin who wrote (4126)	10/21/1999 2:30:00 PM
From: WALT REISCH	Respond to of 8393

-GM: Toyota and GM progress in collaboration efforts October 21, 1999 13:37 M2 PRESSWIRE-21 October 1999-GM: Toyota and GM progress in collaboration efforts (C)1994-99 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corporation and General Motors today outlined progress in their six-month old collaborative technology development effort. Toyota President, Fujio Cho, and GM Chief Operating Officer, G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., commented on their collaboration at the opening of the Tokyo Motor Show. The two companies announced the signing of the technical agreement on April 19, 1999, and outlined their efforts to speed the development of "next generation" vehicles and vehicle technology for electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. Wagoner said that the two companies have dedicated considerable resources to the collaboration's more than a dozen projects. "The goal of our collaboration is the development of technically feasible and commercially viable products," he said. "In other words, products that are both affordable and desired in the marketplace." According to Toyota's Cho, the two companies also have agreed to conduct specific advanced research and development on hybrid and fuel cell technology, and hybrid vehicle applications. He said that Toyota and GM agree that the hybrid vehicle represents an important technology designed for the environment. "At this motor show," said Cho, "both companies are displaying four-wheel drive hybrid vehicles. Although these are independently developed systems, they are in fact based on the same concept. We have agreed to integrate our systems and move ahead with a cooperative project to identify future vehicle applications for next-generation hybrid technology, by combining the best of both companies' concepts and technologies." The two executives also said that fuel cells are potentially the cleanest of the future vehicle technologies, but that significant hurdles exist before commercially viable pure hydrogen vehicles are a reality. According to Wagoner, the companies each will pursue a portfolio of advanced vehicles, "because no one solution will satisfy every situation." Updating the Toyota and GM Technical Collaboration Hybrid Vehicles The hybrid system offers important advantages compared to conventional engine-only propulsion. The hybrid system joins together electric drive and controls with a conventional heat engine. A controls system, like that in Toyota's Prius, automatically distributes the power of the battery-driven motors and the liquid fueled engine. With the ability to draw power from either power source, hybrid vehicles can increase range due to higher fuel economy and improve vehicle emissions performance. The hybrid collaboration work team achieved excellent progress during the first six months of the collaboration and has studied and detailed the components and architecture for future hybrid systems. Both Toyota and GM are showing hybrid concept vehicles at the Tokyo Motor Show that demonstrate one approach, the use of four-wheel drive hybrid propulsion systems. The future systems will take advantage of the best technology and concepts from each company; and the two companies have agreed to aim at using these ideas as the base on which to merge their skills and progress to a deeper stage of research and development for the next generation innovative hybrid vehicle. The work team will now begin to identify the appropriate vehicle applications for the next generation of hybrid technology. Fuel Cells Toyota and GM believe that one day the vehicle fuel will be hydrogen, which is important to the success of fuel cell-powered vehicles. The hurdles leading to the practical use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel are known, and the companies have a global team working on innovative solutions. Currently, the fuel cell work team is focusing research and development efforts on hydrogen storage and on-board vehicle fuel processor technologies. The two companies believe that the first fuel cell-powered vehicles, like GM's concept Opel Zafira, will create hydrogen for the fuel cell on-board the vehicle through a processor device. The work group's vision is to develop systems that meet customer expectations for safe, reliable, and affordable operation. On-board storage of hydrogen is the ultimate goal of the fuel cell work team, and the two companies are working with the energy industry to develop refueling standards and addressing issues that support the development of a cost-effective hydrogen distribution system. EV Technology To support current and future electric vehicle markets, the two companies are focused on interim technology developments. Even before the advanced technology collaboration was announced, Toyota and GM agreed to a common inductive recharging system. Today, the two companies are nearing the conclusion of work on a smaller recharging coupler that will improve vehicle design flexibility and reduce system costs. Collaboration Details General Motors Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation combined represent over 25 percent of the world's production and sales of cars and trucks. The technical collaboration was the vision of Shoichiro Toyoda, Toyota's honorary chairman, and John F. Smith, Jr., GM's chairman and chief executive officer. Discussions leading to the collaboration began during the second half of 1998, and the companies announced on April 19, 1999 the signing of the agreement. The agreement outlines a five-year technical collaboration with the vision that the two companies will provide industry leadership in the development of advanced vehicle technologies that benefit the environment. M2 COMMUNICATIONS DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION PROVIDED WITHIN M2 PRESSWIRE. DATA SUPPLIED BY NAMED PARTY/PARTIES.

To: Don Devlin who wrote (4126)	10/21/1999 5:46:00 PM
From: WALT REISCH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8393

Don, have you heard anything with regards to a new board member being announced in or around the 14th of this month? I saw it mentioned on ECD home page (scrolling at the bottom), but nothing in the news. Any thoughts anyone?

To: Don Devlin who wrote (4126)	10/24/1999 9:13:00 PM
From: Michael Latas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8393

Some food for thought. It has been four years now since we heard that our EV NiMH battery pack would be cost competitive with conventional fuels (gasoline) when 20,000 EV's were produced in one year. What wh/kg were they talking about? As we know, the higher the wh/kg, the fewer the number of batteries it takes to do the same job, or smaller batteries that take proportionately smaller batteries at less cost. Furthermore, our mfg'g capability has improved greatly since then. We seem to be frozen in a time warp at 95wh/kg. Yet, they darned sure were not quoting cost figures at this level four years ago. Our second year of our three year contract with the gov't to develop our new advanced nickel magnesium battery technology was over this month. We are in our final year. It promises 120-150wh/kw vs our current 95wh/kg. Through sheer extrapolation our cost per battery pack for EV's or HEV's will be cut proportionately. It would be interesting to know how low that new figure is/will be. I asked if we will still be referring to our new nickel magnesium technology as NiMH and simply mix it into our existing product line. Or, will we refer to it under a brand new name to distinguish the new superior technology from our existing NiMH technology. This would benefit us when it comes to existing NiMH licensee's present license expiration renewals. It would also help us in the education of consumers, to separate the newer technology from our current NiMH technology. In particular, since there is no way for anyone to distinguish the wide range of different wh/kg NiMH batteries in the market today. All of our batteries are simply marked NiMH, regardless of their wh/kg that varies considerably among our licensee's. I did not get an answer to my question. What do you think will happen? Regards.