A new generation of highly efficient, super clean engines is about to be born.

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30, 1996--On Sept. 23, 1996, Mitsubishi Motors announced their success in building a new low emissions, super efficient engine known as GDI Engine.

The GDI Engine is based on direct injection of an ultra lean gasoline mixture into a high compression engine (or the equivalent of running a diesel engine on gasoline). When compared with a standard diesel engine, Mitsubishi claims a 7 percent better fuel economy, 85 percent more power, 12 percent higher torque, and zero particulate emissions.

When the GDI is compared with similar size gasoline engines, it yields 25 percent fuel savings and 90 percent reduction in NOX at urban driving speeds.

B.A.T. International's subsidiary company, Dolphin Automotive Co. (Dolphin ACI), has been working for a long time on a similar engine. Dolphin's initial prototype engines exhibited similar results to the Mitsubishi engine. Dolphin has made many innovative improvements since testing its first prototype engines.

These later improvements differentiate the technology between the Dolphin and GDI engines. The GDI engine is a spark ignited, direct fuel injected engine requiring a completely new engine design, incorporating both a spark plug and injector for each cylinder. The Dolphin only requires the removal of the injectors from a diesel engine and replacing it with a spark plug in the same hole.

The Dolphin has a simple reformulator technology that allows a diesel (high compression) engine to be fed an ultra lean gasoline mixture to the engine from a common intake similar to a carburetor type engine.

The Dolphin design does not require a new engine design and can be used on many standard engines in conjunction with compression ratios exceeding 20 to 1.

During the development process, Dolphin also discovered a technology to significantly increase overall power output of the engine called "Pulse Charging." Dolphin has built several prototype cars to demonstrate this technology.

Together, the Dolphin technologies form a basis for a totally new generation of gasoline high compression, lean burn, low emission engines.

B.A.T. International asked representatives from the technical, political, financial and industrial communities to witness a demonstration of a diesel engine running spark ignited (no injectors), ultra lean burn, reformer technology.

On Sept. 26, 1996, representatives from CALSTART, Valley Detroit Diesel, Senator Omar L. Rains and the Financial Community Representatives, attended the demonstrations.

Both the Mitsubishi and Dolphin technologies are the beginning of a new generation of super clean, high efficiency engines.

The first Dolphin vehicles to use the new technology will be two hybrid vehicles that B.A.T. International is building under contract for the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense and the Hawaii Electric Vehicle Development Project (HEVDP).

CONTACT: B.A.T. International

Bill Wason, 818/565-5555

818/565-5559 (fax)