ISE Corporation ("International Space Enterprises", later "Innovative Solutions for Energy") was a manufacturer and integrator of heavy-duty hybrid electric powertrain systems for

transit bus Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

and truck use, based in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

and later

Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...

. ISE was founded in 1995 and filed for bankruptcy in 2010, shortly after raising $20 million in its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

History

ISE Corporation was founded in January 1995 by David M. Mazaika and Michael C. Simon, engineers who had formerly worked for

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

. The first funding was a research grant provided by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to develop and test hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle components. ISE entered a strategic partnership with

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

in 2002, where ISE would use the Siemens ELFA traction motor, inverter, and generator in its series hybrid drivetrain systems for the United States. ISE started as an integrator, refitting vehicles with hybrid electric or electric power, including transit buses, tow tractors, and trucks. In the first quarter of 2005, ISE moved from San Diego to Poway. After it declared bankruptcy in 2010, ISE sold its assets at auction to Bluways USA in February 2011 for $3.76 million.

Products

ISE Corporation had two divisions: the first, simply named ISE, supported space exploration by designing micro-rover vehicles for developing and testing space system software. The second, ISE Research, was dedicated to developing hybrid electric powertrains for heavy-duty transportation applications (Class 6 and up trucks, tow tractors, transit buses). In total, ISE shipped approximately 300 hybrid electric drivetrain systems. AC Transit 4285 Fuel Cell PICT0111 (12193010834)

AC Transit 4285 Fuel Cell PICT0111 (12193010834)

ISE Research used the brand ThunderVolt to refer to the

series hybrid Hybrid vehicle drivetrains transmit power to the driving wheels for hybrid vehicles. A hybrid vehicle has multiple forms of motive power. Hybrids come in many configurations. For example, a hybrid may receive its energy by burning gasoline, but sw ...

drivetrains it had developed. The drivetrain included the traction motor(s) and controllers (branded ELFA, provided by

), an energy storage system (battery, charger, and management; or

ultracapacitor A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, is a high-capacity capacitor, with a capacitance value much higher than other capacitors but with lower voltage limits. It bridges the gap between electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable b ...

), auxiliary power unit (APU, to generate electric power for the traction motor and energy storage systems), and hybrid system controllers. As integrated into a mid-size (30') ElDorado National E-Z Rider transit bus, APU options included conventional piston engines (

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

V8 or

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air ...

5.9L), using diesel, gasoline, propane, or compressed natural gas;

Capstone CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) is a lunar orbiter that will test and verify the calculated orbital stability planned for the Lunar Gateway space station. The spacecraft is a 12- ...

gas turbine; and hydrogen fuel cell. ISE introduced the Hybrid Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (HHICE) variant of the ThunderVolt in 2005. The HHICE bus used a Ford Triton V10 gasoline engine that had been converted to burn hydrogen, coupled with an electric generator as the APU for the series hybrid system; it was first tested by

SunLine Transit Agency SunLine Transit Agency, a transit operator in Riverside County, California (with over 3.5 million passengers a year), is a transit agency providing bus service in the Palm Springs Area, with service extending into San Bernardino Transit Center dur ...

. During revenue service with SunLine, the HHICE engine overheated twice and caught fire once in three separate incidents in 2007. Transport for London ordered ten hydrogen-powered buses from ISE in 2007, split equally as five fuel cell and five HHICE APU buses.

Clients

Selected users of transit buses equipped with ISE hybrid drivetrains included:

References

External links

*{{cite web , url=http://www.isecorp.com/ , title=Home Page , publisher=ISE Corporation , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19990208014040/http://www.isecorp.com/ , archive-date=February 8, 1999 , url-status=dead Defunct companies based in California