Los Angeles, CA. May 18, 2007: Society for Sustainable Mobility (SSM) in Los Angeles, CA., formerly known as the “Open Source Green Vehicle” Project ( http://www.osgv.org ), combines the talents from mainly European Automotive Engineering and American Aerospace Engineering and creates Kernel, the “Barebone” Electric Vehicle.

Kernel “Barebone” means that it has everything you need and nothing you don’t. The barebone EV model can go 30 miles on one charge. With an plug-and-play Alt-Fuel electric generator installed, the range can go up to 600 miles or more on one tank of fuel. Many different types of fuels may be used, including bio-diesel, CNG, hydrogen, etc. Just from this perspective, Kernel seems to be more advanced than any hybrid cars on the road today.

The important thing to consider is the legal backbone that protects the “green” intellectual properties from falling into the wrong hands. Kernel EV is designed from scratch by a nonprofit organization, which cannot be bought out or shut down. That means, the intellectual properties are guaranteed to serve public interests.

Quite the contrary, traditional open source software does not require much protection, since the cost of duplication is almost nonexistent. However, in order to manufacture hardware, care must be take. Manufacturing cars in quantity >100,000 units per year requires some serious investment. SSM’s IP management structure allows private investments in part of its vehicles - creating a win-win situation for both the nonprofit and the for-profit.

SSM currently restricts the design data for developmental use only. Not for production. It will change in the future when the license becomes more mature.

About SSM

Society for Sustainable Mobility (SSM website: http://www.osgv.org/) is a program of the International Humanities Center (http://www.IHCenter.org), a 501(c)[3] nonprofit charitable organization based in Los Angeles, California. SSM’s three-part mission is to create: 1. Sustainable technologies to improve the energy efficiency of transportation; 2. An open-design infrastructure to accelerate sustainable technologies into the marketplace and to harness help from great minds around the world; 3. The business strategy to commercialize our products and bring them to the hands of consumers.