Ballard Receives Fuel Cell Bus Engine Order for California Market

Business Wire, August 29, 2002

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2002

Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP)(TSX:BLD) announced today the receipt of an order from Gillig Corporation for delivery of three heavy-duty Ballard(R) fuel cell engines and support services.

The 205 kW fuel cell engines will be integrated into transit buses for delivery in 2004 to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) based in San Jose, California. The fuel cell buses will operate for a two-year period in revenue service under real-world conditions, in response to the California Air Resources Board's zero-emission transit bus requirements. VTA will evaluate fuel cell technology for the public transit industry, including maintenance and operating performance and costs, fueling safety, employee training, and public education and awareness. This is a joint demonstration program with VTA, the San Mateo Transportation District, the California Fuel Cell Partnership and the California Air Resources Board.

In support of this program, the fueling station at VTA's Cerone operating division in San Jose will be enhanced with hydrogen refueling capability.

"With this order we now have 11 different transit agencies around the world committed to demonstrating Ballard's most advanced heavy-duty fuel cell engine technology in the next several years," said Firoz Rasul, Ballard's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "California has shown great leadership in the development of fuel cell technology and we are delighted that VTA has chosen buses powered by Ballard(R) fuel cell engines."

"Ballard is very pleased to be working with Gillig to supply our industry leading technology to VTA," said Dr. Andreas Truckenbrodt, Ballard's Vice President and General Manager, Transportation Division. "Gillig is the second largest transit bus manufacturer in North America, and will be the second bus manufacturer to receive Ballard heavy-duty engines using our Mark 902 fuel cell modules. This relationship will allow Ballard to introduce our latest heavy-duty fuel cell engine to the North American market while providing Gillig with a wealth of fuel cell experience."

"Gillig has a history of customer satisfaction built on choosing the best and most practical technologies and then delivering reliable performance with them," said Brian Macleod, Gillig's Senior Vice President. "Gillig is very pleased to partner with Ballard to produce this leading edge product because Ballard has demonstrated an ability to perform and their experience and obvious technical capabilities will be invaluable in achieving customer satisfaction and a successful demonstration of this new technology."

Gillig Corporation is a privately held California company that is 112 years old and produces heavy duty transit buses for the North American market. Gillig has always been a leader in the transportation industry, from buggies and carriages in the 19th century, to parallel hybrid electric buses in the 21st century, however Gillig's success can be attributed to a reputation of customer satisfaction and solid performance.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the beliefs of Ballard's management and reflect Ballard's current expectations as contemplated under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this release, the words "estimate", "project", "believe", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may", "should", "will", the negative of these words or such other variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of Ballard with respect to future events based on currently available information and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements.

Ballard Power Systems is recognized as the world leader in developing, manufacturing and marketing zero-emission proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Ballard is commercializing fuel cell engines for transportation applications and fuel cell systems for portable and stationary products ranging from 1 kilowatt to 250 kilowatts. Ballard is also commercializing electric drives for fuel cell and battery-powered electric vehicles, power conversion products for fuel cells, natural gas and hydrogen generator sets and other distributed generation products, and is a Tier 1 automotive supplier of friction materials for power train components. Ballard's proprietary technology is enabling automobile, bus, electrical equipment, portable power and stationary product manufacturers to develop environmentally clean products for sale. Ballard is partnering with strong, world-leading companies, including DaimlerChrysler, Ford, EBARA, ALSTOM and FirstEnergy, to commercialize Ballard(R) fuel cells. Ballard has supplied fuel cells to Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Yamaha, Cinergy, Coleman Powermate and Matsushita Electric Works, among others.