SOURCE: ISE Corporation

April 16, 2008 14:35 ET

ISE Corporation Teams With Crane Carrier Company to Build Hybrid Trash Trucks for NY, Chicago and Houston

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - April 16, 2008) - ISE Corporation (ISE), a leading supplier of hybrid drive systems for heavy duty vehicles, and Crane Carrier Company (CCC) have been selected by CALSTART's Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF) Refuse Working Group to negotiate building, validation and testing of Class 7 & 8 hybrid-electric refuse vehicles.

The working group members taking part in this hybrid refuse vehicles pilot project include the Department of Sanitation, City of New York; the City of Chicago; and Solid Waste Management Department, City of Houston. There will be 5 vehicles built and powered by a variant of ISE's ThunderVolt™ hybrid drive systems. New York will take delivery of 3 hybrid-electric vehicles, while Chicago and Houston will receive one each.

"We are excited to collaborate with ISE on this important project," said Glenn A. Pochocki, II, V.P. Sales & Marketing of Crane Carrier Company. "Our LET2 chassis together with ISE's hybrid drive system will provide the perfect platform to meet our customers' refuse truck applications requirements while helping to significantly reduce fuel usage and emissions."

ISE and CCC proposed a series hybrid-electric refuse system using a self-contained hybrid drive assembly that can be easily mounted between the frame rails in most truck chassis. This hybrid system takes the place of the conventional manual or automatic transmission assembly in the CCC LET2 chassis. ISE will use components that it has already developed for the transit market in heavy 60 ft. articulated bus applications, and will employ either nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries or ultracapacitor packs to store energy recovered from the high number of braking cycles experienced by the refuse collection vehicles during their normal operation. ISE will also install an onboard GPS and Remote Diagnostic Unit (RDU) to allow for real time performance monitoring and remote troubleshooting. The RDU conveys location, vehicle status and offers web-based access.

"ISE is ready to make our hybrid drive system available to Class 7 & 8 refuse truck applications," said Gary Willms, ISE's V.P. of Business Development. "With more than 100 ThunderVolt™ hybrid drive systems currently in commercial service, we believe our system is the best fit to help CCC build a hybrid-electric truck system that will have significant and positive environmental impacts for our cities."

About ISE Corporation:

ISE Corporation, based in San Diego, CA, is a leading supplier of hybrid drive systems and components for heavy-duty vehicles such as buses, trucks, trams, airport equipment, and military vehicles. ISE is a world leader in electric, hybrid-electric, and fuel cell technologies, and the only authorized distributor of Siemens ELFA® electric and hybrid-electric drive components for the U.S. transit bus market. www.isecorp.com

Safe Harbor Statement: Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking in nature. ISE's business and operations are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors. Consequently, actual results may materially differ from those projected and/or stated by any forward-looking statements. ISE Corporation makes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made.

ISE, the ISE logo, ThunderVolt™ and Transportation Recharged are trademarks of ISE Corporation. Other brand or product names are trademarks of their respective holders.

Copyright © 2008 ISE Corporation. All rights reserved.