ZF and ISE Corporation Agree to a Strategic Partnership to Supply Electric Hybrid Drive Systems and Components to North American Vehicle Market

NORTHVILLE, Mich., June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- ZF Friedrichshafen (ZF), a leading manufacturer of vehicle driveline and chassis technology, and ISE Corporation (ISE ), a leading designer and manufacture of hybrid propulsion systems and components for heavy duty vehicles, today announced plans to collaborate on the development and supply of a complete line of Parallel-electric hybrid drive systems and components for the North American vehicle markets.

ZF and ISE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlines plans for an intended Strategic Collaboration and Development Partnership. The combined expertise of the two companies will result in a product portfolio of Series and Parallel hybrid-electric drive systems and components unrivaled in the world.

Collaboration details of the MOU include ZF's intention to utilize ISE expertise for integration engineering, sales, subsystem assembly, and service support for ZF Hybrid systems and components into the North America commercial vehicle market. Respectively, ISE intends to develop and market an ISE branded parallel hybrid drive system for the North America commercial vehicle market that incorporates ZF Hybrid Systems & Components. ZF has developed several parallel-hybrid configurations for various applications for the transit bus and truck industries, and as a result of this agreement, North American sales of ZF Hybrid Systems and Components will be sold through ISE and jointly marketed by both companies.

"We are very excited about this groundbreaking relationship where ZF's worldwide expertise in driveline products and parallel hybrid drive systems, combined with ISE's top level expertise in Series Hybrid Drive Systems and high performance energy storage systems, will provide the broadest and most capable product range to meet all commercial vehicle applications," said Wolfgang Schilha, Senior Vice President Bus Driveline Technology, ZF Friedrichshafen AG.

"ISE is thrilled with the opportunity to partner with ZF, who are without question, the world's most capable provider of driveline products and parallel hybrid drive systems for medium and heavy duty applications. With our combined resources, expertise and complementary products, along with ISE's hybrid market expertise in North America, this partnership is without question, the envy of the industry," said Rick Sander, President and CEO of ISE. "There is no question that the synergies of this relationship will help accelerate and expand the world wide adoption of commercial hybrid drive systems resulting in substantial environmental and sustainability improvements, along with improved business solutions."

About ZF

ZF is one of the world's leading automotive industry suppliers specializing in driveline and chassis technologies. With a workforce of 63,000 employees, the company operates 125 plants in 26 countries. ZF Group revenues in 2008 totaled $16.3 billion. ZF ranks as one of the top-10 automotive industry suppliers worldwide.

About ISE

As a world leader in the area of electric "Series Hybrid" drive systems, ISE has demonstrated innovation and production capability in both the transit bus and commercial truck markets providing hybrid systems tailored to high duty cycle applications with substantial improvements in Fuel Economy, Exhaust Emissions, Environmental Noise Reduction, Maintenance Costs and a path toward Battery Dominant Electric vehicles. ISE's offerings include gasoline hybrid, fuel cell hybrid, diesel hybrid and battery dominant drive systems. ISE also provides industry leading energy storage systems including, Lithium-Ion Battery based systems for high energy density requirements for the most practical solutions for battery dominant commercial electric vehicles, and Ultracapacitor based systems, providing optimized high-power regenerative braking.

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