| VANCOUVER,
British Columbia--Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD) (NASDAQ: BLDP) today
announced initiatives to extend the life of its existing cash resources
through a targeted 12% reduction in year-over-year operating expenses.
The savings will be achieved through reductions in discretionary spending
and elimination of approximately 100 full-time positions at Ballard facilities
in Vancouver, Lowell and Dearborn. Roughly half of these reductions have
already been accomplished through normal attrition and elimination of open
positions. This 12% reduction in operating expenses is in addition to the
cost savings realized through the recently completed sale of Ballard's
fuel cell support systems business to its partners DaimlerChrysler AG and
Ford Motor Company. Ballard expects to take a one-time charge in the third
quarter of approximately US $2.0 million with respect to the position reductions.
"The cost reductions we are announcing
today are an integral part of Ballard's strategy to hone its focus and
position the company to deliver its fuel cell technology and product leadership
goals. We are confident that we have struck the right balance between reducing
costs and committing sufficient resources to ensure successful execution
of our mission critical activities," said Dennis Campbell, Ballard's President
and CEO.
Ballard will continue to focus its
business operations around the achievement of four strategic imperatives:
technology leadership; fiscal discipline; product program execution (including
next generation automotive fuel cells, electric drives for fuel cell vehicles,
and residential co-generation fuel cells); and the selective development
of new business opportunities.
Campbell continued, "The careful
stewardship of our cash resources provides us with greater flexibility
to pursue opportunities that are closely aligned with our core competency
- design, development and manufacture off fuel cells. We are encouraged
by the momentum we are seeing in several markets, residential co-generation
in Japan and materials handling among them. We are also pleased with the
progress we have made in our preliminary discussions with organizations
and government agencies in both China and India. Finally, we continue to
be in active discussions with several of the world's leading automakers
with respect to their next generation fuel cell programs. We are confident
that Ballard is well-positioned to continue to play a leadership role in
bringing fuel cells to commercialization."
About Ballard
Ballard Power Systems is recognized
as the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of zero-emission
proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Ballard's mission is to develop fuel
cell power as a practical alternative to internal combustion engines through
technology leadership. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, Ballard
employs approximately 600 people. To learn more about what Ballard is doing
with Power to Change the World(R), visit www.ballard.com.
This release contains forward-looking
statements that are based on the beliefs of Ballard's management and reflect
Ballard's current expectations as contemplated under section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this release, the words
"estimate", "project", "believe", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan",
"predict", "may", "should", "will", the negative of these words or such
other variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of
Ballard with respect to future events based on currently available information
and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements.
Ballard, the Ballard logo and Power
to Change the World are registered trademarks of Ballard Power Systems
Inc. For further information, or to arrange an interview with a Ballard
spokesperson, please contact Rebecca Young or Michelle Cormack at 604-454-0900.

|