by Sanjeev Choudhary, General Manager, PHEV Systems

As the year winds down, we’d like to thank our Plug-In Pioneers and the extended community of PHEV enthusiasts and observers for their support, and also extend our best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year.  2008 has been an eventful year for our nation, and one in which policy makers and ordinary citizens alike focused unprecedented attention on the role of PHEV’s in our transportation future.  We hope that 2009 brings continued momentum and progress on electrification of our transportation infrastructure.

It’s been an eventful year for our HymotionTM product line, as well.  In the spring we completed development and commercial launch of the L5 PCM and began delivering L5’s to our Plug-In Pioneers through our initial Green CHIP network over the summer.  As the year has progressed we’ve added to our Green CHIP network and exit the year with dealers in 12 cities across the U.S. and Canada with our newest locations in West Palm Beach, Florida, San Carlos, California, Vancouver and Winnipeg.  All of our current Green CHIPs are listed below.  Please visit the Hymotion website, www.hymotion.com  and click on Get Charged for dealer links and contact information.

A123 Green CHIP network:
Boston:  Westboro Toyota
Washington, D.C.:  Fitzgerald Toyota
Raleigh:  Advanced Vehicle Research Center (fleet vehicles only)
West Palm Beach, FL:  Foreign Affairs Auto
Minneapolis:  Denny Hecker Automotive Group
Denver:  Burt’s Hybrid Conversions
Los Angeles:  Galpin Auto Sports
San Carlos, CA:  A+ Japanese Auto Repair
San Francisco:  Green Gears/Pat’s Garage
Seattle:  The Green Car Company
Vancouver:  REV Technologies
Winnipeg:  Red River College Advanced Transportation & Energy Centre

Again, thanks to all for your enthusiasm and support in 2008 and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

by Sanjeev Choudhary, General Manager, PHEV Systems

Hello, again!  After a very busy summer, we’d like to update you on developments with the Hymotion™ product line.  Since our last posting in June, we began mass production of the L5 in our ISO 9001 certified factory in Massachusetts and started deliveries to customers through our Green CHIP network in July.  We now have customers across the U.S. and Canada who are driving their L5 PHEV’s.  Many of these Plug-In Pioneers have joined the Community page here on our web site.  Check out who’s enjoying their L5’s at www.hymotion.com/community.

We’re also continuing to expand our Green CHIP dealer network and have added 3 new dealers since June.  Please visit the Hymotion website, www.hymotion.com  and click on Get Charged for their links and more information.

Newest A123 Green CHIP dealers:

   Los Angeles:  Galpin Auto Sports, beginning operations in November

   Denver:  Burt’s Hybrid Conversions

   Raleigh:  Advanced Vehicle Research Center (fleet vehicles only)

Finally, over the summer we attended several events where we had our L5 PHEV’s on display.  Our vehicles were seen by many at the following events:

“Plug-in Electric Vehicles 2008: What Role for Washington?” in Washington, D.C.

Hybridfest in Madison, WI

Plug-In 2008 in San Jose

“The Future is Green” in Long Beach

Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica

“Beyond Oil:  Transforming Transportation” in Seattle

Alt Car Expo in Austin

Looking forward, you can come by and see an L5 PHEV in the Making Green Cool zone of the SEMA show November 4 - 7 in Las Vegas.

by Sanjeev Choudhary, General Manager, PHEV Systems

Today we are very pleased to announce our initial 6 Green CHIP (Certified Hymotion Installation Partner) dealers! We appreciate the many inquiries we’ve received from others who wish to join the Green CHIP program. We plan to expand our dealer network in the future, and will evaluate additional dealers at that time. Now, and in the future, our certified dealers will be identifiable by the Green CHIP logo.

All of our Green CHIP dealers have demonstrated interest and support of environmental initiatives, and all of them also have a track record of strong customer service and a commitment to introducing PHEV and other advanced vehicle technologies. We are pleased that they will be working with A123 to ensure a professional and successful L5 conversion experience for our customers.

For our Plug-In Pioneers, the A123 Hymotion Team will continue to be your customer service contact while your order is in transition from reservation to installation at your Green CHIP dealer. Please do not contact your chosen Green CHIP dealer to inquire about your order status or to schedule your L5 installation. The A123 Hymotion Team will be in touch with you to ensure that your priority for shipment of your L5 from our factory is preserved and that your installation gets scheduled accordingly at your Green CHIP dealer. Should you have any questions, please call the A123 Hymotion customer service number at 1-877-2GO-PHEV.

Listed below are our first 6 Green CHIP dealers. Please visit the Hymotion website, www.hymotion.com and click on GET CHARGED for their links and more information.

A123 Green CHIP dealer network:

Boston: Westboro Toyota

Washington, D.C.: Fitzgerald Toyota

Minneapolis: Denny Hecker Automotive Group

Los Angeles: Toyota of Hollywood

San Francisco: Green Gears/Pat’s Garage

Seattle: Green Car Company

by Sanjeev Choudhary, General Manager, PHEV Systems

Hello, everyone! Thanks to all who have became Plug-in Pioneers by reserving their L5 PCMs during our first week of consumer availability. Last Friday, all of the Plug-in Pioneers should have received confirmation of their order status and notice of estimated ship date of their units from our factory. We look forward to fulfilling your orders through one of our Green CHIP dealers starting in July.

As of this time, any new orders coming in are estimated for shipment from our factory in October.

Below are a few things we are looking forward to in the coming month:

Green CHIP Dealer Information

Our initial Green CHIP dealers will be located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, Boston, and Washington, D.C. We will be adding our Green CHIP dealers’ contact information and links to our web site in a few weeks.

Come See Our Hymotion^TM L5 PCM

This past weekend we participated in the Green Grand Prix (www.greengrandprix.com) in Watkins Glen, NY. It was great to see so many supporters of PHEV technology as well as other alternative fuel vehicles. We’ll post some pictures from the race on our web site soon.

On May 8^th and 9^th we will be participating in the 4^th Annual Power Up! Summit (www.plugincenter.com) in Wenatchee, WA. One of our fleet partners will display an L5 Prius at the Summit. Also, an L5 Prius will be on display at the Alternative Fuels & Vehicles national conference and expo (www.afvi.org/NationalConference2008/) in Las Vegas beginning on May 11^th.

by Sanjeev Choudhary, General Manager, PHEV Systems

Hello, again. I want to thank all of you who have visited the new site and especially the Plug-in Pioneers who have reserved their L5 PCMs. By the end of this week, we will contact all the Plug-in Pioneers with further information on their order status and estimated delivery.

I would also like to clarify and update you all on a few points that we’ve been asked about frequently so far this week.

Toyota Warranty
Since our L5 PCM product availability announcement, Toyota has officially stated to the media that the Prius’ factory warranty will not be automatically voided due to installation of the L5. Toyota has further said that if the L5 creates a problem with a warranted system then Toyota may refuse to provide warranty service if the L5 is the source of the problem.

These statements from Toyota are consistent with our own position on how the Toyota factory warranty will be affected by installation of the L5. We have consistently said that Toyota can’t automatically void the Prius’ factory warranty simply because an L5 is installed. We have also noted that if the L5 causes a problem that would otherwise be covered by Toyota’s warranty then Toyota may refuse warranty coverage. Rest assured that in this event, A123 will pay for the cost of the otherwise warranted repair for our customers.

PCMs for Vehicles other than Prius
Many of you have expressed interest in Hymotion PCMs for vehicles other than the Prius. We plan to evaluate the feasibility of designing safe and operationally effective systems for additional models that can be viable products in the consumer market. As with the L5 for the Prius, a fair amount of time and rigor will be required to design, test, certify and release for sale to consumers PCMs for additional vehicles. We expect that based on the experience gained from the development of the L5 that we can produce our next PCMs faster, but we’re not currently in a position to estimate when additional models may be available for consumers. We’ll keep you updated in the coming months as we undertake our next development projects.

by Sanjeev Choudhary, General Manager, PHEV Systems

Hello to all – to those of you who are new to Hymotion, and especially to those of you who have been following the progress of our Hymotion product development over the past year. As General Manager of PHEV Systems at A123, I have recently taken on responsibility for our Hymotion product lines. It is my privilege to join the Hymotion product line team and help to introduce our PHEV technology to the marketplace. On behalf of our entire Hymotion team, I welcome you to our new Hymotion product line website! We hope you find the site informative and we welcome your feedback and participation in our community.

Over the past year, we have worked with our corporate and government partners to field test our L5 Plug-in Conversion Module (PCM) for Toyota Prius 2004-2008. As you surf the site, you will learn more about the rigor and thoroughness that we’ve put into developing the L5 and the benefits the L5 offers. During the product development phase we performed multiple crash and emissions tests on the L5 to ensure that we meet the strictest federal and California standards. We also logged over 200,000 actual vehicle miles in over 50 converted Priuses in our corporate and government partner fleets. We are pleased to complete development of the L5 and introduce it as the market’s first fully tested, standardized and mass produced PHEV conversion module.

While we will continue to serve corporate and government customers, today we are very excited to announce availability of the L5 PCM to individual consumers through our website! If you are interested in becoming a Plug-In Pioneer with the purchase of an L5 Plug-in Conversion Module, please initiate your order by placing a deposit through the website. Lead times for each customer will depend on overall demand and product availability, but we expect consumer deliveries to begin in July 2008. We have recently added several new members to our Hymotion customer service team, and we will contact you within 5 business days of your placing a deposit to give you further information about your order and estimated delivery.

Thanks for checking out our site and our blog. Please check back here periodically for additional blog entries and news about the Hymotion product line. In the meantime, below are some additional items that may interest you regarding our Hymotion products.

Other Recent News

First Hymotion PHEV Conversion for Individual Consumer Completed

We recently completed the first conversion of a privately owned Prius into a Hymotion PHEV with our L5 PCM, which we unveiled at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference in Washington, DC on March 5th. James Woolsey, Former Director of the CIA and ardent spokesperson for US independence from foreign oil, now has the first privately owned Hymotion PHEV in the world. President Bush also stopped by our booth to check out the Hymotion PHEV: http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=344

We recently completed the first conversion of a privately owned Prius into a Hymotion PHEV with our L5 PCM, which we unveiled at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference in Washington, DC on March 5th. James Woolsey, Former Director of the CIA and ardent spokesperson for US independence from foreign oil, now has the first privately owned Hymotion PHEV in the world. President Bush also stopped by our booth to check out the Hymotion PHEV:

Hymotion Dealer Network

We are currently establishing and certifying our A123 Green CHIP (Certified Hymotion installation Partner) dealer network in major cities around the country. Initial Green CHIP dealers will be located in Boston, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

California Air Resources Board Approval

In April 2008, in the absence of established PHEV certification procedures, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) working together with our team outlined a path for conditional approval for A123Systems to sell up to 500 L5 PCMs in California as a means of initiating our rollout to consumers. We are now in the process of finalizing that approval. Additionally, we and others are also working with the CARB to establish certification procedures for PHEVs. Once those CARB PHEV certification procedures are final, we expect to certify our Hymotion L5 for sale in California under those procedures with no restriction on quantities sold.