Beacon Power Names Jack Pearson Smith to Its Board; Former CEO of Holland Neway International Brings 30 Years of Industrial Design, Manufacturing and Product Marketing Expertise.

Business/Technology Editors

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2001

Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ:BCON), a leading manufacturer of flywheel energy storage systems that provide highly reliable, high-quality uninterruptible electric power, today announced that it is expanding its Board of Directors with the addition of Jack Pearson Smith.

For the last 11 years, Smith served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Holland Neway International in Muskegon, Michigan, a leading designer and manufacturer of suspension systems and brake actuators for the commercial vehicle market. In 2000, this 650-person company had worldwide sales of $200 million.

"We are delighted that Jack has agreed to join Beacon Power as a director," said Beacon Power President and Chief Executive Officer William E. Stanton. "He is a skilled strategist who has deep experience in developing value-differentiated products, lowering product unit costs and improving business operating structures for long-term profitability. This experience will be invaluable to Beacon as we seek to build our marketing organization, move toward volume manufacturing and expand our presence in the alternative energy and distributed generation markets."

During his tenure, Smith was responsible for growing sales of Holland Neway (formerly Neway Anchorlok International) from $70 million to the present level of $200 million. He developed a comprehensive strategic vision for growth that has enabled the company to successfully grow despite stiff competition and steadily declining market prices for brake and suspension components. In 1992, Smith led the company's divestiture from Lear Siegler to American Industrial Partners (AIP), a financial buyer. In 1995, Smith led a successful management buyout of the company with equity partner Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. From 1992 to 1999, these transactions generated an equity return of over $110 million.

Smith also held the positions of V.P. Engineering and Quality Assurance at Neway Anchorlok International and directed the engineering and quality assurance departments. Earlier, he was Chief Engineer. From 1972 to 1982, Smith was Design Group Leader at the Ford Motor Company - Heavy Truck Division, in Dearborn, Michigan, where he also held positions as project engineer, and product planning analyst.

Smith also serves on the board of directors of Bissell Corporation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a past member of the Board of Trustees of the Muskegon Art Museum, is a Foundation Board member of Grand Valley State University, and was a Cabinet Fund Raising Board member of the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. A resident of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Smith attended the University of Michigan where he earned bachelor's (1970) and master's (1971) degrees in mechanical engineering and an MBA (1979.)

About Beacon Power Corporation

Beacon Power Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets advanced flywheel technology products that provide reliable electric power required by the information economy. Beacon Power Corporation is the only company to have developed a flywheel made from proprietary composite materials that can store and deliver the energy needed for long-duration backup of remote communications sites. Beacon Power Corporation is initially targeting this $4 billion communications segment of the $12 billion power quality and reliability market with products that offer significant advantages over environmentally hazardous lead-acid battery back-up power systems, including higher reliability, longer life, reduced maintenance, quicker recharging, remote monitoring and environmental friendliness.

For more information, please contact Tom Nealon, Director of Investor Relations at Beacon Power Corporation, 978.694.9121; fax [phone]; email [e-mail]; or write to 234 Ballardvale Street, Wilmington, MA 01887. Visit Beacon Power on the Internet at www.beaconpower.com

Safe Harbor Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

Material contained in this press release may include statements, which are not historical facts and are considered "forward-looking" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect Beacon Power Corporation's current views about future events and financial performances. These forward-looking statements are identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," and similar expressions identifying forward-looking statements. Investors should not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Beacon Power Corporation's expectation, and Beacon Power Corporation expressly does not undertake any duty to update forward-looking statements. These factors include Beacon Power Corporation's short operating history, its history of losses and anticipated continued losses from operations, its limited experience manufacturing Flywheel Energy Storage Systems on a commercial basis including the fact that no commercial contracts have been executed to date, the dependence of Beacon Power Corporation's sales on the achievement of product development and commercialization milestones, significant technological challenges including the risk of successfully developing the 2kWh and 6kWh Flywheel Energy Storage Systems as well as the commercial viability of each of these flywheel products, Beacon Power Corporation's dependence on third-party suppliers for key component parts, intense competition from companies with greater financial resources than Beacon Power Corporation, the risk that government regulation may impede Beacon Power Corporation's ability to market its products, possible product liability claims that may or may not result from safety failures of Beacon Power Corporation's flywheels and the negative publicity which could result, any failure to protect Beacon Power Corporation's intellectual property, any failure to hire and retain key executives, the lack of availability of additional financing, the recent volatility in the stock price of companies operating in the same sector as Beacon Power Corporation, control by Beacon Power Corporation's controlling shareholders and the limited ability of other investors to influence the outcome of matters requiring shareholder approval, conditions in the communications industry that comprises Beacon Power Corporation's initial target market, but are not limited to, factors detailed from time to time in Beacon Power Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.