NEW YORK, Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ener1, Inc. HEV, a leader in lithium-ion energy storage solutions, today announced two changes to its senior leadership team. Board member Thomas J. Snyder is replacing Charles Gassenheimer as chairman by assuming the role of non-executive chairman of the board.  Chris Cowger, who has been serving as president of Ener1, will take over as chief executive officer from Mr. Gassenheimer, who is leaving the company.  The changes are effective immediately.  Mr. Gassenheimer is also expected to resign from Ener1's board of directors.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080312/CLW018LOGO)

In addition, Ener1's board of directors has expanded the number of board seats from nine to 10 naming Chris Cowger to fill the new board seat.  

"We are fortunate to have hired Chris Cowger earlier this year," stated Thomas J. Snyder, non-executive chairman of the board, Ener1, Inc.  "He's done an excellent job re-focusing Ener1 on the needs of its current and potential customers."

Speaking on behalf of the board of directors, Snyder continued, "We very much appreciate all of Charles' contributions over the last five years in building Ener1 into a leader in lithium-ion energy storage solutions.  We also anticipate that Chris' experience from working in executive leadership positions with companies like Dell and AMD, will bring additional expertise and insight to the Ener1 board to help us grow our business and achieve our business goals."

About Ener1, Inc.

Ener1, Inc. is a publicly traded HEV energy storage technology company that develops compact, lithium-ion-powered battery solutions for the transportation, utility grid and industrial electronics markets.  The company has sales and manufacturing locations in the United States, Korea and Russia, as well as a joint venture based in China. 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 & INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT
Brian Sinderson
212-920-3500 X117
brian.sinderson@ener1.com

SOURCE Ener1, Inc.