Next Week's Alternative Car and Transportation Expo Features Unique Opportunities to Drive and Buy Never-Seen-Before Vehicles

Free December 9-10 Event to Showcase Ways Car Buyers Can Save Money, Earn Tax Credits

SANTA MONICA, CA - December 2, 2006: If a cool, new environmental-car is on your holiday wish list, don’t miss the groundbreaking Alternative Car and Transportation Expo featuring a chance to ride in and drive new electric, hydrogen, natural gas, biodiesel and ethanol cars never seen before.

The City of Santa Monica will sponsor and host the event, which is the most comprehensive, technologically advanced exposition of alternative fuel and high MPG vehicles ever held. The Expo, scheduled for December 9-10, is designed to give attendees a first shot at the hottest new environmental cars on the market. Admission to the Expo, as well as numerous seminars and advanced technology displays, will be free. The event will be held at Barker Hangar, located at the Santa Monica Air Center.

An electrifying car rally and opening ceremony—including a parade of all participating alternative vehicles—will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, December 8. The event will begin at the Santa Monica Pier and end at Barker Hanger and will include actors James Brolin, Alexandra Paul and Ed Begley Jr., as well as a few surprises.

More than 100 alternative fuel vehicles will be showcased at the expo, including hybrid, electric, hydrogen, compressed natural gas, plug-in hybrid, high MPG gasoline, ethanol and biodiesel. Other eco-friendly vehicles—such as Segways, electric skateboards, bicycles, mopeds and two- and three-wheeled scooters—will also be on display. Car manufacturers, alternative and green fuel advocates and public transportation, air quality and energy agencies will showcase and discuss new technologies, viable sustainable fuel alternatives, health solutions, urban planning and renewable energy. “

This is an ideal opportunity to view the very cleanest and fuel efficient vehicles, and also a chance to advocate the long-term benefits of public transportation and transit solutions available now to lessen environmental and health concerns we face,” said Craig Perkins, environmental and public works director for the City of Santa Monica. “We have viable options available now and this Expo is the ideal forum to share tools with the public to make cleaner transit decisions.”

Central to the Expo’s purpose is to show consumers how they can save money and earn tax credits by going green. A main feature of the event will be to give people the opportunity to try-out many of the vehicles on display, some of which will be available for immediate purchase. Attendees can be the first to drive electric or other eco-friendly cars around their neighborhoods.

More than 50 percent of urban trips last less than 10 minutes, and a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) is the perfect solution for short trips to work, transit, shopping or school. NEVs are inexpensive, run on electricity, and are easy to park. The Expo will feature several dozen NEV manufacturers.

A wide-ranging selection of environmental, health and alternative fuel seminars will be held throughout the two-day event and will include Assemblymember Fran Pavley, National Center for Smart Growth Professor Reid Ewing and World Council for Renewable Energy Chairperson Angelina Galiteva. Keynote addresses will be provided by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, author Edwin Black and former head of the California EPA Terry Tamminen. “

This Expo is an ideal venue for the public to see first-hand how our health and quality of life do not need to be held hostage to Big Petroleum,” said Tamminen, author of Liver per Gallon: The True Cost of our Oil Addition. “We now have a range of vehicle options that are far cleaner and more fuel-efficient—and help improve the air we breathe and ultimately the lives we lead.”

Companies selected to exhibit include traditional car manufactures such as General Motors and American Honda Motor Company, which will have on display its natural gas-powered Civic GX. Less known companies will include Quantum Technologies, Miles Automotive and Zenn Motor Company, which makes a zero-emissions vehicle. Highlights include:

• New car lot: Attendees can put their money where their heart is and immediately make an impact towards reducing gasoline usage by purchasing a new car. Cars will be available to drive and purchase, and used alternative fuel vehicles will be auctioned.

• On-site car conversion: During the event, Left Coast Conversions will replace the internal combustion engine of a 70s era, Triumph with lithium polymer batteries for a range of over 200 miles. California Air Resources Board will sign off on the conversion.

• Alternative fuel sports car debut: Universal Electric Vehicle Corporation will unveil its sleek all-electric, two-seat convertible sports car called the Electrum Spyder. Priced at $69,995, the Spyder can accelerate from 0-60 in under five seconds, and has a range of 300 miles. Expo attendees will be the first ever to see the Spyder.

• Super-high mileage display: The Society of Automotive Engineers will display a special collection of their latest high mileage prototype cars

Event sponsors include Edison, Southern California Gas, Big Blue Bus, Metro, Global Green, Clean Cities, Whole Foods, the Ambrose, Troy Sound Walls and the Santa Monica Pier. Santa Monica, hosting city and a major sponsor of the Expo, has a long history of successfully incorporating alternative fuel vehicles into its daily operations and participating

Visit the Expo from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on November 9-10 at Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Air Center. Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus will operate free shuttles from the Los Angeles Convention Center to the Alt Car event. Admission is free and parking is $5. Learn more at www.altcarexpo.com.