General Motors Celebrates Collaboration With State of Iowa and Kum & Go to Bring More Home-Grown, Renewable Fuel To The State

Kum & Go Installing Nineteen New E85 Ethanol Pumps at Iowa Retail Stations

DES MOINES, Iowa - General Motors, Governor Chet Culver and Kum & Go, L.C. today celebrated plans for the addition of 19 new E85 ethanol fueling locations to be opened throughout the state by the end of 2008. The new fueling locations will be promoted by GM as part of a broader, ongoing national GM campaign to boost the use and awareness of ethanol-based E85 fuel in the United States.

The announcement was celebrated at the Iowa State Fair during an event presided over by Iowa Governor Chet Culver, GM executives and Kum & Go.

"I commend General Motors, Kum & Go and organizations including the American Lung Association for supporting alternative fuels and making E85 ethanol more widely available to Iowa drivers" said Gov. Culver. "It’s important that we support our local energy economies while decreasing our dependence on foreign oil. These new E85 refueling sites will help provide Iowans with even more opportunities to choose biofuels"

As part of the collaboration, GM is promoting the availability of the fuel with consumer and dealer outreach. Local GM dealers will help promote these new refueling stations whenever customers purchase flex-fuel vehicles.

"GM wants to be a part of the solution to reduce this nation’s dependence on petroleum and we appreciate the efforts of Governor Culver and Kum & Go to support E85 ethanol" said Elizabeth Lowery, GM vice president of environment, energy and safety policy. "At GM, we believe that biofuels like E85 give us the greatest near-term potential to actually reduce gasoline consumption and emissions. That’s why GM is committed to building vehicles that can run on E85 ethanol with over two million of our flex fuel vehicles on the road today and plans to expand production going forward"

In an effort to expand the use of alternative transportation fuels, the Department of Energy is supporting this effort by providing the largest funding awarded to any other state last year. The funding will support Kum & Go’s plans to complete a total of 19 new E85 ethanol fueling sites at existing retail stations in Iowa and an additional five new fueling sites at retail stations in South Dakota and Minnesota.

"We know how much our customers care about the environment and we’re proud to offer them the choice for renewable fuels at the pump" said Kyle Krause, president and CEO, Kum & Go. "Our new sites are helping make E85 ethanol more available to more of our customers throughout the state"

Today’s announcement is part of a nationwide effort by GM to help grow the E85 ethanol fueling station infrastructure. Since May of 2005, GM has announced partnerships in a total of 13 states to locate more than 250 E85 fueling pumps at stations around the country.

GM’s E85 partnership and marketing campaign are designed to encourage greater E85 use and showcase GM’s E85 FlexFuel vehicle leadership to U.S. consumers. E85 FlexFuel vehicles can run on any combination of gasoline and/or E85, a fuel blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. E85 can contribute to energy independence because it diversifies the source of transportation fuels beyond petroleum, and it provides positive environmental benefits in the form of reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

For the 2007 model year, GM offers 14 E85 ethanol-capable vehicle models--more than any other automaker--with an annual production of more than 400,000 vehicles.