Request for Proposal No. 066982-01

Issuing Party: Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (“EPRI”)

Title: “Electric Drive Technology Roadmap for Northeast Ohio”

Notice of Intent to Issue RFP

This is a notice of intent to issue the above Request for Proposal At this time,

no proposals are being solicited. The request for proposal will be issued on or

about 16 April 2008. Any and all interested parties wishing to obtain a copy of

the RFP may request it by said date from the EPRI contact person listed below.

All potential vendors expressing an interest in the RFP will be provided a copy on

the same date by EPRI

General Information

EPRI, with funding from the Cleveland Foundation, will conduct a comprehensive

study of the economic and environmental impacts of electric-drive vehicle

technologies in the eight-county Cleveland Metropolitan Area. The study will

cover different technologies include those available and in use today, such as

electric fork lift trucks, truck stop electrification, and electric airport ground

support equipment, as well as future technologies, like plug-in hybrid electric

vehicles. Major participants in this study are the Cleveland Foundation, the

Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) acting as Grant

Administrator for the Cleveland Foundation, EPRI, and FirstEnergy, the electric

utility serving the Cleveland area.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the economic and environmental impacts

of electric-drive vehicle adoption in the Cleveland area. Electric-drive vehicles

displace the purchase and consumption of petroleum fuels by electricity. This

changes the emissions profile and energy consumption of transportation in the

area. Also, the production of vehicle, electric drive systems and components,

batteries, and charging equipment may provide direct economic opportunity for

companies with design and manufacturing facilities in that region.

The overall objective of this project is to develop a detailed inventory of different

types of electric-drive vehicles in the eight-county Cleveland Metropolitan

statistical area and to acquire and analyze available data to develop future

scenarios of market penetration for each technology. This data will ultimately be

combined with energy consumption and emissions data to develop net impacts

due to increases or decreases in market share for a given technology.

Bidders should have detailed local knowledge of the study area — Northeast

Ohio, including Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina Summit, Portage and

Ashtabula counties.

Please address all questions, comments, or expressions of interest to the EPRI

Contact Person shown below:

Mr. Jay Delic, Contracts Negotiator, EPRI Legal Services Dept.

E-mail: jdelic@epri.com

Phone: (650) 855-2289