VANCOUVER, CANADA and COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP; TSX: BLDP) today announced that, together with Nel Hydrogen, Hydrogen Valley, the Danish Hydrogen Association and Solaris Bus & Coach, the Company hosted a successful Fuel Cell Electric Bus Conference Event in Copenhagen, Denmark on September 12^th.

The conference was held at the Blue Planet Auditorium and attracted more than 100 attendees, including dignitaries and executives from transit agencies and bus operators who were interested to learn more about the strong value proposition for fuel cell electric buses in meeting zero-emission public transit requirements. Participants also had an opportunity to ride an 18-metre Solaris bus, powered by Ballard’s FCveloCity^®-HD85 fuel cell module.

“We are at a key juncture in the commercial deployment of fuel cell electric buses in Europe,” said Jesper Themsen, President & CEO of Ballard Power Systems Europe A/S. “First, major European metropolitan centers are moving towards restricting or banning diesel and other internal combustion engines, in favor of cleaner mass transit alternatives. Second, Ballard has demonstrated market leading durability performance for our fuel cell solutions, logging more than 25,000 hours of operation in London buses with the same fuel cell stacks. And finally, we have a clear roadmap to enable the cost of a complete fuel cell electric bus at modest production volumes to be cost competitive with other alternatives, including CNG, biogas and battery electric.”

Mr. Themsen concluded, “This critical turning point in the evolution and adoption of zero-emission mass transit solutions was reinforced by the tremendous turnout and overall level of interest and engagement at our FCB CPH17 event.”

Fuel cell electric buses manufactured and integrated by Ballard partners and equipped with FCveloCity^® engines typically offer a host of important attributes, including:

• 400 kilometer (250 mile) range between refuelings;
• Rapid refueling in about 7 minutes;
• Improved fuel economy compared to diesel buses (1.5x) and CNG buses (more than 2x);
• Route flexibility, with no need for en-route recharging, such as overhead catenary wiring; and
• Reduced noise and smoother ride for improved passenger riding experience.

The competitive positioning of fuel cell electric buses – including a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis – is discussed in a Ballard White Paper which was released at the FCB CPH17 event. Entitled “An Attractive Value Proposition For Fuel Cell Buses in Scandinavia”, the White Paper is now available at Ballard’s website – http://info.ballard.com/fuel-cell-buses-scandinavia-whitepaper.

The FCB CPH17 event included an esteemed line-up of industry experts who spoke on a range of important aspects of the clean energy mass transportation theme. Speakers included –

• Dorthe Nøhr Pedersen, CEO of Movia, Copenhagen’s public transport agency
• Ben Madden, Director at Element Energy
• David Yorke, New Technology, Training & Projects Manager at Tower Transit Operations Ltd.
• Aivars Starikovs, Chairman of the Latvian Hydrogen Association
• Romuald Witkowski, Senior Area Manager at Solaris Bus & Coach
• Uffe Borup, Vice President of Nel Hydrogen Solutions
• Jacob Krogsgaard, Senior Vice President of Nel Hydrogen Solutions
• Nicolas Pocard, Marketing Director at Ballard Power Systems Inc.

About Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP; TSX: BLDP) provides clean energy fuel cell products enabling optimized power systems for a range of applications. Products deliver incomparable performance, durability and versatility. To learn more about Ballard, please visit www.ballard.com.

This market update contains forward-looking statements concerning anticipated product performance, customer benefits and market demand for our products. These forward-looking statements reflect Ballard’s current expectations as contemplated under section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any such forward-looking statements are based on Ballard’s assumptions relating to its financial forecasts and expectations regarding its product development efforts, manufacturing capacity, and market demand.

These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause Ballard’s actual results to be materially different, including general economic and regulatory changes, detrimental reliance on third parties, successfully achieving our business plans and achieving and sustaining profitability. For a detailed discussion of these and other risk factors that could affect Ballard’s future performance, please refer to Ballard’s most recent Annual Information Form. Readers should not place undue reliance on Ballard’s forward-looking statements and Ballard assumes no obligation to update or release any revisions to these forward looking statements, other than as required under applicable legislation.