TIAX Awarded Contract from Gateway Cities Clean Air Program; Company to Continue Successful Initiative to Reduce Emissions from Heavy-Duty Trucks

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2005--TIAX, a leading collaborative product and technology development firm, today announced that it has been awarded a new contract from the Gateway Cities Clean Air Program to continue overseeing the replacement of heavy-duty trucks in the Los Angeles area with newer, lower-emission vehicles. Since 2002, TIAX has been responsible for coordinating the replacement of approximately 350 trucks with newer vehicles that feature cleaner, more efficient engines.

Under the $712,500 contract covering fiscal year 2005-2006, TIAX will continue to broker agreements between the Gateway Cities Clean Air Program and the truck owners to ensure that they meet grant requirements and program guidelines. In addition, the company will see that trucks purchased during this phase of the program are equipped with special "retrofit" devices that further reduce diesel exhaust emission levels, and global positioning systems that allow TIAX to track each truck's activities and gain a better understanding of where emissions are being reduced.

“Many cities could strongly benefit from a program like the Gateway Cities effort. TIAX hopes to soon begin helping other cities deal with this tremendous problem and improve air quality.”

"Diesel exhaust from heavy-duty vehicles has been shown to cause serious health problems, including an increased cancer risk," said Jon Leonard, project manager at TIAX for the Gateway Cities Clean Air Program. "Heavy-duty trucks that serve ports are some of the oldest and dirtiest on the roads today, so they create serious pollution problems for the surrounding communities and their citizens. The Gateway Cities Clean Air Program has provided an effective solution to this problem that benefits both the residents of southeast Los Angeles County and the truck drivers who serve the area. We are extremely pleased to continue our work with this initiative."

Studies have shown that high exposure to diesel exhaust can cause asthma and cancer. According to a recent California study, diesel emissions caused an estimated 70 percent of cancer-linked air toxins in the Gateway Cities area. Breathing particulate matter and nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust can be dangerous even over a short time because the minuscule particles can enter the circulatory system and damage blood vessels. Children are especially vulnerable because their lungs are still developing.

"Virtually every city in America is affected by harmful emissions from older, in-use heavy-duty diesel trucks," said TIAX founder and CEO Kenan Sahin. "Many cities could strongly benefit from a program like the Gateway Cities effort. TIAX hopes to soon begin helping other cities deal with this tremendous problem and improve air quality."

The Gateway Cities Clean Air Program was created by the Gateway Cities Council of Governments and various government stakeholders as part of a pilot program to explore a variety of ways to reduce diesel emissions in southeast Los Angeles County and throughout the South Coast Air Basin. Through the program, commercial truck owners who qualify can trade in their older diesel trucks (pre-1986) and receive a grant averaging about $22,000 toward the purchase of a newer model truck (1999 or newer) that has a more fuel-efficient, cleaner-burning engine. The engines of the old trucks are then destroyed to ensure that they can no longer contribute to air pollution in the region.

Through the replacement of the older trucks, it is estimated that up to 4 tons of nitrogen oxides emissions and up to 1 ton of harmful diesel soot emissions are reduced for each truck over its assumed remaining life of five years.

To qualify for the Gateway Cities Clean Air Program, a truck owner must be able to demonstrate that his vehicle has been used commercially in the South Coast Air Basin for the past two years. This 6,600 square mile area includes all of Orange County and the non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. They also must agree to continue their work in the South Coast Air Basin for the next five years.

The long-term goal of the Clean Air Program is to replace 3,000 existing heavy-duty vehicles, which represent approximately a third of the pre-1987 truck fleet in Los Angeles County. Funding comes from a collaborative of government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.

About the Gateway Cities Clean Air Program

The Gateway Cities Clean Air Program is managed by the Gateway Cities Council of Governments (GCCOG) in cooperation with the Port of Long Beach, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the Mobile Source Review Committee, the Port of Los Angeles and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. For information on the Gateway Cities Clean Air Program and participating dealers, call the Clean Air Program information line at (800) 800-4414 or visit the Gateway Cities Council of Governments website at http://www.gatewaycog.org/.

About TIAX LLC

TIAX LLC (pronounced Ty-ax) is a leading collaborative product and technology development firm that accelerates innovation to help its clients create an impact in the market - and in people's lives. It integrates business, industry, and hands-on technology expertise to transform ideas into products and problems into solutions. Formed out of Arthur D. Little's Technology & Innovation business and located in Cambridge, Mass., TIAX (www.tiaxllc.com) builds on more than a century of breakthrough innovation and client success using collaborative R&D. TIAX was selected as a Technology Pioneer 2003 by the World Economic Forum and is ISO 9001 certified with more than 50 research and development laboratories.