California Parks Group Honors DaimlerChrysler's GEM for Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Donations

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 31 -- The California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS), the leading organization for park, recreation, leisure, and community service professionals, recently recognized Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), LLC, a DaimlerChrysler company, for its donation of 500 neighborhood electric vehicles to California parks.

To acknowledge the donation and GEM's new role within the California park system, the company received two CPRS 2003 Presidential Awards. The vehicles, 2-passenger long-back NEVs (a model unique to GEM) are being put to use by the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service and hundreds of local park and recreation agencies in the state.

"These GEMs come at a critical time for California's parks and have been welcomed everywhere they have been put to use," says Kevin Miller, president of the California Park & Recreation Society. "As electric vehicles, they help reinforce the environmental message that is an integral part of our parks system, and since they were donated, they have helped many park communities that otherwise would not have been able to afford this needed vehicle."

The GEMs will fill a variety of roles in the parks, with the primary application being the transportation of park employees within the parks.

"We are pleased to have become a part of the California parks system," says Richard J. Kasper, president and COO of GEM. "We believe this is an excellent application for our vehicles. We know the parks will put them to good use."

Since they are a zero emission vehicle, GEMs help extend the vision of CPRS to "enhance quality of life" at California parks, adds Miller, who is also Foster City director of park and recreation in Northern California.

About Global Electric Motorcars

Global Electric Motorcars, the largest U.S. producer of street-legal electric vehicles, has been manufacturing the GEM neighborhood electric vehicle since 1998. The affordable GEM is designed for downtown driving, college campuses, office campuses, planned communities, industrial parks, military installations, resorts, and similar localized uses. A GEM costs pennies per mile to operate and is easily charged by plugging into a standard 110-volt household outlet. GEM complies with all applicable federal safety laws.

Global Electric Motorcars has extensive experience working with planned communities, universities, military bases, resorts, and small and large urban settings throughout the United States. GEM vehicles have become a key mode of transportation in numerous locations around the nation, including DC Ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Celebration in Florida; Bay Harbor in Michigan; and the Playa Vista planned community in West Los Angeles.

With more than 15,000 GEMs on the road, these vehicles have a long and successful track record of displacing many short trips traditionally taken with internal combustion vehicles, reducing both emissions and gasoline consumption.

About California Park & Recreation Society

Founded in 1946, the California Park & Recreation Society was established to provide park, recreation, leisure and community service professionals, and interested citizens with the knowledge and resources to enhance their leadership role in creating community through people, parks, and programs.

CPRS is the nonprofit, professional, and public interest organization with more than 2,700 members from throughout California.

Images of GEM vehicles and additional DaimlerChrysler news can be found on DaimlerChrysler's Media Services Website at www.media.daimlerchrysler.com . Further information on GEM vehicles is available at www.gemcar.com .