Ener1 Announces Common Stock Purchase Agreement for up to $50 Million

NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ener1, Inc. (NASDAQ: HEV), a leader in lithium-ion energy storage solutions, today announced that Aspire Capital Fund, LLC, an Illinois limited liability company, has purchased 2,325,581 shares of Ener1 common stock for $2,000,000. The per share purchase price was $0.86, which was the closing price on August 2, 2011. The investment represents the first purchase under a common stock purchase agreement in which Aspire Capital has agreed to buy, at Ener1's option, up to a total of $50,000,000 of Ener1 common stock over the next 24 months.  The purchase agreement provides Ener1 with two mechanisms under which it can elect to sell shares of common stock to Aspire Capital on any business day: (1) Ener1 can sell up to 250,000 shares per day at a known price based on the market price on the purchase date, and (2) Ener1 can sell up to 30% of the number of shares traded on the purchase date at a price equal to 95% of the volume weighted average price for such purchase date.

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"We believe the facility with Aspire Capital, together with a recent $15 million line of credit from our largest shareholder and approximately $27 million in projected cash flow from product delivered to Federal Grid Corporation, provides Ener1 with the financial resources we need to continue to execute our business plan," stated Ener1 Chairman and CEO Charles Gassenheimer.  "We feel that the terms provided by Aspire are very favorable and flexible, and we appreciate the confidence they have shown in Ener1.  While our goal remains to fund our business by generating cash flow internally, our board of directors believes this is a prudent step to ensure that our business plan is fully funded under any scenario.  We remain very optimistic that, with the continued development of our transportation, small format and utility grid energy product lines, we are on the right path to building a world-leading energy storage solutions company."

Under the purchase agreement, Ener1 will control the timing and amount of any sales of common stock, and is not obligated to sell unless it elects to do so.  Aspire is required to make purchases as Ener1 directs in accordance with the agreement, which may be terminated by Ener1 at any time.  The purchase agreement does not restrict Ener1 from entering into other financing arrangements.

A more complete description of the purchase agreement is set forth in Ener1's current report on Form 8-K, filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  

About Ener1, Inc.

Ener1, Inc. is a publicly traded (NASDAQ: HEV) energy storage technology company that develops compact, lithium-ion-powered battery solutions for the utility grid, transportation and industrial electronics markets.  Headquartered in New York City, the company has nearly 700 employees with manufacturing locations in the United States and Korea.  Ener1 also develops commercial fuel cell products and nanotechnology-based materials.  For more information, visit Ener1's web site at www.ener1.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements made in this press release constitute forward-looking statements that are based on management's expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "scheduled," "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and the company does not undertake any obligation to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this press release.

MEDIA CONTACT
Brian Sinderson
212-920-3500 X117
[email protected]

SOURCE Ener1, Inc.