Pacific Gas and Electric Company to Drag Race Environmentally Superior Heavy-Duty Crew Truck in The 2003 Challenge Bibendum

This is the First-Ever Heavy-Duty Competition in Michelin's Annual Event

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22 -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced that one of it's technologically advanced and environmentally superior heavy-duty compressed natural gas crew trucks is competing in Michelin's 2003 Challenge Bibendum which takes place in Sonoma and San Francisco and runs September 23-25, 2003. The new technology of this natural gas-powered truck significantly reduces harmful air emissions -- approximately 50 percent nitrogen oxide (NOx), 80 percent particulates, and nearly 90 percent carbon monoxide (CO) -- when compared to diesel trucks. "PG&E's innovative compressed natural gas crew truck will leave the heavy-duty diesel competition in the dust," said Norm Stone, PG&E's manager of clean air transportation.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company began the innovative project to create a prototype of the truck in 1999. Specifically, the company removed the diesel engine and the diesel-powered air compressor from a Freightliner FL-70 Chassis Cab and refitted it with a John Deere 8.1 liter natural gas-fueled engine. After 10 months of engineering and development, the company placed the first crew truck in service in 2000. John Deere natural gas engines are used extensively in the school transportation industry, but this was the first time it was attached to a truck chassis.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company received the Bay Area Chapter of the American Lung Association's Clean Air ENVY award in 2001 for this breakthrough design, which deliver 250 horsepower with 800 foot-pounds of torque while still earning an EPA Ultra Low Emission Vehicle rating.

According to an analysis published in the August 2002 Automotive Fleet magazine, Pacific Gas and Electric Company ranked number four among utilities and energy companies maintaining alternative-fuel fleets in America.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company started experimenting with alternative fuel vehicles in the early 1970s. In 1988, the company formally started its Clean Air Transportation program and currently has more than 700 natural gas vehicles in its fleet. Over the past 25 years, the utility's clean air transportation and energy efficiency programs have kept a cumulative total of approximately 53 million tons of CO2, a greenhouse gas, out of the atmosphere.

   Following is PG&E's itinerary for the Bibenum:
    Tues., Sept. 23, 9:00 a.m.:
    Fuel Economy Testing, 98-mile round trip beginning in Vacaville
    Solano Community College, 1990 Akerly Drive, Vacaville

   Wed., Sept. 24, 11:30 a.m.:
    Acceleration Testing at the Infinion Raceway, Sonoma
    (heavy-duty truck drag racing for 1/4 mile)

   Thurs., Sept. 25, 1:00 p.m.:
    PG&E Truck displayed with other innovative alternative fuel vehicles
    for photo opportunity at Chrissy Field, San Francisco

For more information about Pacific Gas and Electric Company, please visit our web site at http://www.pge.com/

For more information on the 2003 Challenge Bibendum, please visit www.challengebibendum.com