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ComEd Aids the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Project

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) is joining with the Illinois Institute of Technology's (IIT) Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Project in collaboration with Chicago-based All Cell Technologies, LLC, the City of Chicago and other industrial and government partners in an effort to double the fuel efficiency and reduce emissions from the city's fleet of hybrid Ford Escape SUVs. The PHEV Project will use Lithium-ion batteries developed by All Cell.

ComEd will provide expertise by sharing its best practices from operating its hybrid vehicles. The utility owns 64 hybrid Ford Escapes and its SUV fleet will expand to 114 hybrid vehicles by the end of 2007. ComEd also will provide expertise in technical and regulatory matters related to charging the plug-in hybrid vehicles' electric drive systems from the utility's electrical power distribution system.

"ComEd's commitment to hybrid vehicles is one of the elements of our voluntary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas. There also is real potential for this initiative to advance the opportunities to create plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on a significant scale," said Anne Pramaggiore, senior vice president of ComEd Regulatory and External Affairs.

All Cell, which is sponsoring the IIT PHEV Project, is an IIT-based technology transfer company formed in 2001 by Professors Said Al-Hallaj and J. Robert Selman to commercialize Lithium-ion batteries in military, medical, portable and transportation applications. The project will use IIT's patented thermal management technology with phase change material (PCM).

Read more about the project in this press release describing ComEd's involvement in the PHEV Project.