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ECOtality’s eTec Awarded Patent for Bridge Power Manager

Dépèche transmise le 24 septembre 2009 par Business Wire

ECOtality’s eTec Awarded Patent for Bridge Power Manager

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. (OTCBB: ETLY), a leader in the clean electric transportation and storage technologies, announced today it has been awarded a patent for its Bridge Power Manager (BPM) by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The BPM provides cost effective means to share power with existing electric circuits for eTec’s Minit-Charger™ line of fast charge systems.

“The BPM takes advantage of existing power circuits and eliminates the need for airports and other fast-charge host locations to design and construct new circuits for installing fast chargers, saving host locations time and money,” said Don Karner, eTec’s president. “This patent exemplifies eTec’s dedication to providing effective technology solutions that help streamline the transition to electric vehicles in critical airport ground support, material handling and on-road electric vehicle applications.”

Airports are a natural location to implement this power sharing technology as many are power limited, thus preventing the implementation of electric ground support equipment (GSE). Since electric supply circuits that provide bridge power at airport gates are only used for short periods of time – when a jet arrives and passengers board and deplane – those circuits are unused for a majority of the time, leaving spare power capacity. The BPM uses that spare power capacity to provide branch power to a Minit-Charger™ fast charger. When the passenger boarding bridge is in use, the eTec BPM decreases power to the Minit-Charger™ unit, then automatically returns the charger to full power once the bridge is no longer in use, without any input from an operator. While the BPM was specifically designed for airport use, the technology can be utilized in other applications, including on-road electric vehicle use, to allow spare power capacity from existing supply circuits to be shared and between fast charge systems.

By eliminating the need for new supply circuits, the eTec BPM substantially reduces both the time and cost required to design and construct new power circuits at an airport. The BPM allows airports and airlines to implement electric GSE at locations where power limitations prevented the installation of the charging infrastructure. Electric ground support equipment has been shown to reduce annual fueling costs by 70 to 80 percent and total operating costs by 30 to 40 percent (when compared to support equipment fueled by gasoline or diesel fuel). Furthermore, electric GSE eliminates the pollution generated by gasoline- and diesel-powered equipment.

“In addition to the tremendous benefits the eTec BPM provides to ground support equipment, this technology also paves the way for an on-road application that utilizes existing circuits for electric vehicle multi-charge locations,” said Jonathan Read, president and CEO, ECOtality. “The BPM patent further validates and enhances ECOtality’s leading fast charge technology portfolio by minimizing charger installations costs, maximizing use of existing power sources and ensuring an efficient transition to electric transportation.”

About eTec

Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, is a recognized leader in the research, development and testing of advanced transportation and energy systems. With over two decades of electric transportation experience, eTec has been involved in every electric vehicle initiative in North America since the 1990’s. Utilizing its patented industry-leading charging algorithm, eTec operates the Minit-Charger line of battery fast charge systems for on-road electric vehicle, transit, material handling and airport ground support applications. For more information, please visit www.etecevs.com or www.minit-charger.com.

About ECOtality, Inc.

ECOtality, Inc. (OTCBB: ETLY), headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies. Through innovation, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships, ECOtality accelerates the market applicability of advanced electric technologies to replace carbon-based fuels. For more information about ECOtality, Inc. please visit www.ecotality.com.

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