California Fuel Cell Partnership Welcomes Ztek as New Member

    WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif.--Dec. 18, 2002--The California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP) today announced that Ztek Corporation has joined its public-private venture to demonstrate and promote fuel cell vehicles and fuel alternatives.
    Ztek, based in Woburn, Mass., specializes in the manufacturing of fossil fuel-to-electricity and hydrogen conversion technology. Ztek will team up with another CaFCP associate partner, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of San Francisco, to supply a hydrogen reformer system. That system, which will use natural gas to produce hydrogen, will provide fuel for the partnership's fuel cell vehicles. It will be located at PG&E's Service Center in Auburn, Calif. Ztek will also be responsible for system installation, commissioning and service.
    The Auburn hydrogen station, located approximately 40 miles from the CaFCP headquarters facility in West Sacramento, will be the partnership's third hydrogen fueling station in northern California. It is expected to be operational in 2003.
    "We are pleased to welcome Ztek into our fuel cell technology demonstration project," said Catherine Dunwoody, executive director of CaFCP. "Through their technology, our partners will gain additional fueling experience and insight into potential infrastructure solutions for fuel cell vehicles."
    "We are excited to be part of the fuels team at the California Fuel Cell Partnership, and look forward to contributing to CaFCP's aggressive agenda to realize a viable fuel cell transportation industry," said Michael Hsu, President and CEO of Ztek. "A distributed hydrogen station with on-site natural gas reforming such as the one to be provided by Ztek can reduce the local hydrogen storage needs, resulting in a smaller footprint for the hydrogen station and a higher degree of safety."
    The Partnership is a voluntary effort to advance a new automobile technology that could move the world toward practical and affordable environmental solutions. CaFCP is demonstrating fuel cell-powered electric vehicles under real day-to-day driving conditions; testing alternative fuels and demonstrating the viability of an alternative fuel infrastructure technology; exploring the path to commercialization; and increasing public awareness of fuel cell electric vehicles. The Partnership expects to place up to 60 fuel cell passenger cars and fuel cell buses on the road by the end of 2003.