Press Release

AeroVironment Announces 24-Hour Distance Record for Electric Vehicle

12/13/96

AeroVironment/Delphi-E Team Breaks Electric Vehicle 24-Hour Distance
Record

MONROVIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- A new electric vehicle 24-hour
distance record was set by a team from AeroVironment and Delphi Energy
and Engine Management Systems (Delphi-E), a division of General Motors
Corporation.

The 24-hour run started at noon on December 7, 1996 and finished at
noon the following day, covering a total distance of 1020.5 miles on
Los Angeles area city streets and freeways. The new record distance is
a whopping 23 percent farther than the previous record of 832 miles,
set in 1994 in Atlanta.

The record drive demonstrates the practicality of using today's
existing batteries along with fast recharging to increase dramatically
the effective daily range of electric vehicles.

A team of electric vehicle specialists at AeroVironment and Delphi-E's
West Coast Operations prepared and drove the record- setting vehicle,
a converted Saturn coupe provided by Arizona Public Service Company,
an electric utility active in electric vehicles. Delphi-E and
AeroVironment contributed the two key technologies that made the new
record possible.

Delphi-E provided the valve-regulated lead-acid batteries, the same
batteries that power GM's new EV1 electric car. AeroVironment provided
its new ProCharge fast charger, which recharged the vehicle battery in
only 12 minutes after each 44-mile loop.

AeroVironment Incorporated, of Monrovia, California, specializes in
products and services for electric and hybrid vehicles, distributed
and renewable energy systems, and environmental monitoring.

AeroVironment created the milestone GM Impact electric vehicle
demonstrator for General Motors in 1989, the forerunner of the GM EV1
now on sale at Saturn Dealers in Southern California and Arizona. The
Delphi Energy and Engine Management Systems division of General
Motors, with headquarters in Flint, Michigan, provides energy storage,
ignition, fuel, and exhaust systems for a wide range of vehicles.