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UTC Makes Commitment to Fuel Cells for Transportation

4 August 1998

UTC Makes Commitment to Fuel Cells for Transportation; International Fuel Cells and ONSI Corporation Become UTC Subsidiaries

    SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn., Aug. 4 -- United Technologies
Corporation (UTC) has formed a new limited liability company, International
Fuel Cells, LLC (IFC), to expand its fuel cell business in the transportation
market.  IFC also will continue its fuel cell support for NASA's space
shuttle, previously provided by the former international Fuel Cells Corp.
    Toshiba Corporation is an equity investor in IFC, LLC, along with UTC.
Both UTC and Toshiba have committed funding for capital and development
activities required to adapt fuel cell technology to the transportation
market.
    ONSI Corporation, located at the same South Windsor site, will continue
its worldwide activities in the stationary fuel cell power plant market.  ONSI
and IFC will operate as independent subsidiaries of UTC.
    Existing facilities at the Governor's Highway headquarters location will
be modified to expand Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology
development as well as perform pilot manufacturing of PEM products for cars
and buses.  A fuel processing test facility also is being built to test
gasoline and alternative fuels.  An additional 50,000 square feet will be
leased at an adjacent Bidwell Road facility to accommodate ONSI office and
production activities.  IFC and ONSI together employ about 400 people.
    "Our new organizational structure will allow International Fuel Cells to
better focus on the transportation fuel cell market, while ONSI continues its
industry-leading role as a supplier of commercial fuel cell power plants,"
said IFC President Robert Suttmiller.  "There are exciting opportunities ahead
and our companies, with more than 35 years of fuel cell experience, plan to be
major players in the emerging transportation, as well as commercial, markets."
    Since International Fuel Cells Corp. began work on PEM fuel-cell
technology in 1984, the IFC team has refined and successfully tested a number
of demonstration PEM fuel cell power plants, including a 50-kilowatt power
plant delivered to Ford Motor Company in 1997 under a Department of Energy
contract.
    ONSI's fleet of 160 PC25(TM) power plants, each providing 200 kilowatts of
power, recently surpassed two million hours of accumulated operation.  ONSI
also provides industrial hydrogen generation systems along with its partner,
Praxair, as well as fuel cells for waste water treatment plants and landfills.
UTC, Toshiba and Ansaldo of Italy are equity investors in ONSI.
    A fuel cell is similar to a battery.  It uses an electrochemical process
to directly convert chemical energy in hydrogen and oxygen into electricity
and water.  Fuel cells offer energy conversion efficiencies several times
better than that of internal combustion engines and operate virtually
pollution- and noise-free.
    United Technologies Corporation, based in Hartford, Connecticut, provides
a broad range of high-technology products and support services to the building
systems, automotive and aerospace industries.