LATHAM, N.Y., March 31, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq:PLUG), a leader in providing clean, reliable on-site energy solutions, today announced that officials with Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT) are moving materials around the Aiken County Bridgestone Firestone tire plant on a forklift fleet now powered by hydrogen instead of lead-acid batteries. The plant is converting 22 forklifts to the GenDrive(tm) system this year and expects to convert the remaining fleet as equipment is retired.
"We are very excited about this new green initiative," said Plant Manager Mike Rose. "The fuel cells are a direct replacement that last longer than batteries, take less time to change or refuel and only emit water vapor. This is certainly a step in the right direction as we work continually to minimize our impact on our environment."
The project expands on BFNT's success using hydrogen fuel cells to run industrial vehicles at other facilities. BFNT's current hydrogen-powered vehicles run two to three times as long on a hydrogen fuel cell and take one-fourth of the time to refuel compared with battery-powered vehicles. These changes provide a positive financial return on investment and present the plant with a viable alternative to traditional vehicles.
This is Bridgestone's fifth order for GenDrive power units in less than two years. Since delivery of the first units in early 2006, the GenDrive units have logged more than 10,000 operating hours without service disruption.
"The Bridgestone Aiken County plant continues to demonstrate industry leadership and environmental stewardship while achieving productivity gains through the implementation of the GenDrive fuel cell solution. This milestone program further evidences the value proposition our GenDrive solution offers customers with large manufacturing operations," said Chris Reid, Vice President, Motive Power Division, Plug Power.
The GenDrive fuel cell system integrates the proven and reliable Ballard Mark 9 SSL fuel cell with Maxwell ultra-capacitors and high performance on-board hydrogen storage to produce a "drop-in" replacement for the conventional industrial lead-acid battery. This unique combination creates a power source that produces constant output and runs longer before refueling, thereby increasing daily output and lowering equipment operating costs.
The Bridgestone Firestone plant in Aiken County produces both passenger and light truck tires. The parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the world's largest tire and rubber company.
About Plug Power
Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq:PLUG), an established leader in the development and deployment of clean, reliable on-site energy solutions, integrates fuel cell technology into backup, motive and continuous power products. The Company is actively engaged with private and public customers in targeted markets throughout the world, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, South Africa and South America. For more information about how to join Plug Power's energy revolution as an investor, customer, supplier or strategic partner, please visit www.plugpower.com.
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This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to our 2008 milestones and statements regarding our growth plans. We believe that it is important to communicate our future expectations to our investors. However, there may be events in the future that we are not able to accurately predict or control and that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations we describe in our forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the risk that the anticipated synergies of the Cellex Power Products, Inc. and General Hydrogen Corp. (now amalgamated as Plug Power Canada Inc.) acquisitions are not realized; the risk that unit orders will not ship, be installed and/or convert to revenue, in whole or in part; Plug Power's ability to develop commercially viable on-site energy products; the cost and timing of developing Plug Power's on-site energy products; market acceptance of Plug Power's on-site energy products; Plug Power's ability to manufacture on-site energy products on a large-scale commercial basis; competitive factors, such as price competition and competition from other traditional and alternative energy companies; the cost and availability of components and parts for Plug Power's on-site energy products; Plug Power's ability to establish relationships with third parties with respect to product development, manufacturing, distribution and servicing and the supply of key product components; Plug Power's ability to protect its Intellectual Property; Plug Power's ability to lower the cost of its on-site energy products and demonstrate their reliability; the cost of complying with current and future governmental regulations; the impact of deregulation and restructuring of the electric utility industry on demand for Plug Power's on-site energy products; and other risks and uncertainties discussed under "Item IA-Risk Factors" in Plug Power's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 17, 2008, and the reports Plug Power files from time to time with the SEC. Plug Power does not intend to and undertakes no duty to update the information contained in this press release.