Stuart Energy Joins Toyota's Fuel Cell Vehicle Community

TORRANCE, Calif.--May 1, 20049, 2004--Stuart Energy Systems Corporation (TSX: HHO) accepted delivery of a Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle (FCHV), becoming the latest member of Toyota's Fuel Cell Vehicle Community. Stuart Energy's California-based staff will drive the FCHV and provide on-road operational data to Toyota on the vehicle's performance. In addition, Stuart Energy will use the vehicle in customer and public demonstrations of its Stuart Energy Station (SES-f) hydrogen fueling product line.

A commonly perceived roadblock to the introduction of hydrogen vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Stuart Energy is addressing this issue with its SES-f solutions. These stations are scaleable in size to support a range of fueling requirements, from fleets of vehicles to fueling a single car. A small but growing network of SES-f systems have been installed at customer sites in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, including California, where Stuart Energy fueling infrastructure is in place from Chula Vista in the south to Richmond in the north.

"This project builds on our existing relationship with Toyota, a recognized leader in the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles," commented Jon Slangerup, President and CEO. "We are eager to start our evaluation of the FCHV and begin reporting our findings back to Toyota. We plan to work with our existing infrastructure customers and partners to provide hydrogen fuel to the vehicle as well as use one of our small portable hydrogen systems that can support a single vehicle."

"Stuart Energy is already a valued partner in Toyota's fuel cell vehicle research," said Jim Press, executive vice president and COO of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. "Today we're taking another step forward by expanding the California hydrogen 'community' of businesses, government agencies, educators, and organizations. The mass adoption of hydrogen-based transportation is a long way off, but together we can address the serious technological, infrastructure, and consumer-acceptance challenges we all face."

Toyota's FCHV is based on the Highlander mid-sized sport utility vehicle and contains a Toyota-developed proprietary fuel cell system with four 5,000-psi hydrogen fuel tanks. Hydrogen gas feeds into the fuel cell stack where it is combined with oxygen. This generates a peak of 90 KW of electricity, which powers the 109-hp electric motor (194 lb-ft of torque) and charges the vehicle's nickel-metal hydride batteries that also feed power-on-demand to the electric motor drive system. The only emission is clean water vapor.

Stuart Energy's portfolio of small to large-scale SES systems is the only commercial product line available in the market that reliably delivers on-site production of hydrogen in outputs ranging from 1 Nm3h (38 scfh or approximately 2 kg a day) to 100's of Nm3h. The full SES product line is comprised as a modular system consisting of Hydrogen Generation, Compression, Storage, Power and Fuel Dispenser Modules, configurable for small to very large hydrogen infrastructure applications. The SES is designed to safely and reliably generate fuel cell grade hydrogen. Based on the Company's proprietary Vandenborre IMET(R) cell stack and intelligent fuel station technology, the SES uses electricity to efficiently separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. When renewable sources of electricity are used in the electrolysis process, such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power, the SES solution becomes a zero-emission infrastructure solution for industrial, power and transportation applications.

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. (TMS) Inc. is the sales, marketing, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion in the United States, marketing products and services through a network of 1,408 Toyota and Lexus dealers in 49 states. Established October 31, 1957, TMS and its subsidiaries are also involved in logistics, motorsports, R&D and general aviation. Toyota is the third-largest vehicle manufacturer in the world and the fourth-largest automaker in the United States. For more information please visit http://www.toyota.com

About Stuart Energy

Stuart Energy Systems Corporation (TSX: HHO) is the world leading developer and supplier of integrated hydrogen infrastructure solutions that serve existing and emerging markets for power generation, transportation and industrial applications. The Company's website address is http://www.stuartenergy.com

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