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To: Tom Hoff who wrote (2798)	12/22/1998 3:02:00 PM
From: Don Devlin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8393

Press Release United Solar Products Pass Extensive Qualification Testing, (UL-1703, IEEE-1262, IEC 1646, CEC 701), 20 Year Performance Warranty Now Standard Troy, Michigan, December 22,1998--United Solar Systems Corp. ("United Solar") announced today that its complete UNI-SOLAR® Triple-Junction solar electric (photovoltaic - PV) product line has completed a comprehensive battery of independent testing for reliability and performance. United Solar products have received Underwriters Laboratory (UL) Listing, and passed all major product qualification tests including: Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE-1262), International Energy Commission (IEC-1646) and ISPRA (CEC - 701). Listing and certifications cover UNI-POWER PV Modules US-64 through US-3, UNI-SOLAR flexible Solar Battery Chargers models USF-32 through USF-5, and UNI-SOLAR Roofing including solar electric metal roofing (structural and architectural) and revolutionary solar electric shingles. Completion of these tests qualifies United Solar products for various commercialization programs including the Department of Energy, Utility PV Group TEAM-UP projects, California Energy Commission AB-1890 PV program funding, other state initiatives and major international tenders. In recognition of these achievements, United Solar announced that UNI-SOLAR framed modules (US-64, US-42 and US-32) and UNI-SOLAR Roofing products (ASR, SSR and SHR) will be warranted with a 20-year performance warranty. United Solar warrants that the peak power output of the covered products (at standard test conditions) will not be less than 80% for 20 years. "This is an important achievement that validates the reliability and design integrity of United Solar multi-junction amorphous silicon alloy solar electric products which we've been producing for over fifteen years," said Stanford Ovshinsky, President of United Solar Systems Corp. "We are pleased to pass this value on to our customers by providing an industry leading warranty," he added. United Solar is a joint venture between Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., ("ECD")(NASDAQ:ENER) of Troy, Michigan and Canon Inc. of Japan. ECD and United Solar have pioneered, developed, and hold basic patents covering the continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing of thin-film amorphous silicon alloy multi-junction solar modules and related products including flexible solar battery chargers, framed power modules UNI-KIT™ Lighting Systems and UNI-SOLAR Roofing Shingles and Metal Roofing Panels. United Solar products are distributed nationally and in Canada by Golden Genesis headquartered in Golden, Colorado. UNI-SOLAR Roofing is distributed nationally by Solar Utility, Inc. of Culver City, California. UNI-SOLAR is a registered trademark of United Solar Systems Corp. For more information on these qualification tests or product information, please contact United Solar Systems Corp., or visit our website at ovonic.com.

To: Tom Hoff who wrote (2798)	12/27/1998 4:19:00 PM
From: Michael Latas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8393

Tom, I just wonder how much longer it will be before Matsushita, who is a consumer battery licensee of ours will continue to mfg'r the older original, inferior, NiMH batteries that do not require a license from ECD for EV's and HEV's, while at the same time manufacturing our advanced NiMH Batteries? (The following information is for the benefit of some of the recent new members of this thread. Panasonic is a trade name for Matsushita.) Toyota has acknowledged their battery shortcomings in their Prius hybrid and have stated to Automotive News that they will have to improve its performance before introducing their car into Europe and the US. Again, there are several different shortcomings to the older NiMH technology, with the biggest being the very sluggish acceleration. A Toyota and Honda EV will accelerate from zero to sixty MPH in a little over twelve seconds vs. our GM EV1 which will go from 0-60 MPH in under eight seconds. In spite of its much slower performance of the Toyota and Honda EV's, these cars are still driveable in the city. The problem with the Prius is that it carries considerably fewer of the older technology NiMH batteries that are sorely lacking in acceleration. In particular, going up a ramp to get onto a Los Angeles freeway, that requires you to be up to full traffic speed while merging into the normal rush hour traffic. (End of bringing the newly informed up to speed.) Tom, the actual cost of mfg'g the older NiMH vs. the new advanced NiMH batteries would have to be rather insignificant. The plot should begin to thicken now that Sanyo is licensed to mfg'r our latest advanced EV and HEV NiMH batteries. This will allow the Japanese vehicle mfg'rs to buy the very latest advanced technology from another Japanese battery mfg'r. There simply was no way that the Japanese would allow themselves to purchase our NiMH batteries from GM, an American company. We would never live long enough to see that day come. Again, perhaps Sanyo will help us break into the Japanese market. They may also force Matsushita to buy a new EV/HEV license from us. This should be a very interesting and exciting year, at long last. Regards.