Gore Fuel Cell Technologies Honored By Frost & Sullivan With 2006 Technology Leadership Award

PALO ALTO, CA (July 17, 2006) - For the second year in a row, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan for its pioneering work in membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for fuel cells. Gore's Fuel Cell Technologies business has received the 2006 Technology Leadership Award in the field of transportation fuel cell membranes for its continued development and improvement of the GORE™ PRIMEA® Series 57 family of MEAs for transportation.

In 2005, Gore Fuel Cell Technologies received the Frost & Sullivan Excellence in Technology of the Year Award for its portfolio of MEA technology for transportation, portable power and stationary power.

According to Frost & Sullivan analyst Vijay Murthy, "GORE™ PRIMEA® Series 57 MEAs take a great step toward meeting the challenging performance and cost demands of the transportation market. Recent additions to this product family provide significantly longer lifetime under severe operating conditions, allowing higher temperatures and drier operating conditions to be utilized in the stack. Lower voltage decay rates have been achieved through use of new electrode technologies, while simultaneously lowering the precious metal content from previous MEA generations."

"PRIMEA Series 57 has been constantly improved over the last five years and its present state is a result of an unmatched mix of expertise and technology in this particular field," stated Murthy. "Gore’s own advancements in micro-reinforced composites, as well as electrode technology have contributed to the present design, and this could be the answer that carmakers and stack manufacturers are looking for in next-generation fuel cell systems."

GORE™ PRIMEA MEAs are available commercially and represent the leading technology in the field. Gore is among the few companies doing high volume manufacturing of MEAs, necessary for the bulk requirements of the automotive industry as well as for stationary and portable power system manufacturers.

About W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
Perhaps best known for its consumer products like GORE-TEX® fabric and ELIXIR® guitar strings, Gore is a leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products for the electronics, industrial, fabrics and medical markets. The company is headquartered in Newark, Delaware, posts sales of almost $2 billion, and employs more than 7,000 associates at 45 facilities throughout the world.

The Gore Fuel Cell Technologies business was started in 1995 as a natural outgrowth of the company’s fluoropolymer membrane development and electrochemistry core expertise.

For more information, visit www.gore.com/fuelcells.