EVLN(Pittsfield, Mass EVs Worldwide backed by a $1.35m fed grant)

["Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter" <BruceDP@iname.com>]

EVLN(Pittsfield, Mass EVs Worldwide backed by a $1.35m fed grant)
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Maker of Battery-Powered Buses to Open Plant in Pittsfield, Mass.
Scott Allen 10/26/1999 KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: The
Boston Globe - Massachusetts Copyright (C) 1999 KRTBN Knight Ridder
Tribune Business News; Source: World Reporter (TM)

Backed by a $1.35 million federal grant, a company that makes
battery-powered buses plans to become the first tenant at the former
General Electric Co. plant in Pittsfield, providing up to 1,000 jobs
within six years, federal and city officials announced yesterday.

The company, Electric Vehicles Worldwide LLC, will build electric
buses and delivery trucks for federal agencies. Company principal
Michael Armitage promised to invest $100 million over 20 years.  "We
are at a historic juncture for Pittsfield," said US Representative
John W. Olver, the Amherst Democrat who secured the federal grant as
part of the Federal Transit Administration budget for 2000. "Today, we
are here to announce the first venture as part of the new economic
lifeblood for Pittsfield in the 21st century."

G E was the city's leading private employer for much of the 20th
century, but only the plastics headquarters and polymer-processing
development center remain active. The closed 250-acre GE complex on
the Housatonic River is one of the state's most notorious hazardous
waste sites.

Under a consent decree filed in federal court this month, GE will turn
the site over to the city for redevelopment once it is decontaminated,
part of a cleanup project that could cost the company up to $750
million.

Electric Vehicles Worldwide hopes to tap into the emerging market for
clean vehicles created by congressional requirements that federal
agencies buy replacement vehicles that run on fuels other than
gasoline.

The sale of electric cars to the public has slowed because of their
limited range before needing to be recharged. Range is less of an
issue for delivery and mass transit vehicles because they seldom
travel far from their recharging site.

Although Electric Vehicles Worldwide has not produced its first
vehicle yet, its main backers have extensive backgrounds in the power
and electric vehicle industry, including Armitage, who has developed
power plants.

"These are the kinds of extraordinary results community, state and
federal officials, and GE sought as we worked toward our settlement,"
said John DeVillars, regional administrator of the US Environmental
Protection Agency, the lead government negotiator in the GE cleanup.
 ...
 http://www.boston.com/globe   letters@globe.com   ask@globe.com
The Boston Globe Copyright (c)1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
Tel# 617-929-2000, Fax# 617-929-3186   Attn: Al Larkin,
135 William Morriessey, Boston, Mass 02122
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