ENER1 BATTERY SUBSIDIARY EXPANDS NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM

EnerDel CEO Ulrik Grape Announces CFO, CTO, VP Operations and General Counsel
for Ener1 Lithium-ion Battery Subsidiary

Fort Lauderdale, FL - October 18, 2005 - Ener1, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ENEI) lithium battery subsidiary, EnerDel, Inc., announced today the appointment of four key executives to the company’s senior management team. These appointments round out the company’s executive team in support of its strategy of becoming a leading supplier of lithium-ion batteries to manufacturers of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

David Burns was named EnerDel’s Chief Financial Officer. He has more than 20 years of finance, investment banking, and accounting experience. Prior to joining EnerDel, he was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for i2 Telecon International, Inc., a publicly traded company. He was also Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of Tego Communications/Trek Indoor Wireless. Mr. Burns’ previous experience includes investment banking with Goldman Sachs & Co. and public accounting with Ernst & Young. He is a certified public accountant with a BA in Accounting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. Ulrik Grape, EnerDel’s CEO, commented, “David is an experienced executive with the critical financial skills and discipline we need to successfully grow our business. He is a vital addition to our management team.”

Zenzo Hashimoto was named EnerDel’s Chief Technology Officer. He has over 20 years of high-level technology development, operations, and manufacturing experience with leading Japanese manufacturing companies, where he developed lithium-ion battery and production process technologies. His experience includes lithium-ion production line start-up, process design, quality control, automation engineering, and production equipment design for Sony Energytech, Inc., Sony Corporation’s battery division. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Hashimoto was Chief Research Officer of Enerstruct, Inc., EnerDel’s major technology partner, where he focused on development of high-rate lithium-ion battery technologies that are being implemented at EnerDel. Previously, Mr. Hashimoto was Technical Advisor in a subsidiary of ITOCHU Corporation, a significant investor in Ener1, Inc. and Ener1’s partner in Enerstruct. There, he focused on design and manufacture of lithium-ion battery production lines. Mr. Grape added, “Zenzo will establish and maintain EnerDel’s technology advantages in lithium-ion battery cell design and automated mass production systems. His outstanding industry experience and strong ties to our partners ITOCHU and Enerstruct, where he led the battery engineering team, will be invaluable to us.”

Naoki Ota was named EnerDel’s Vice President, Operations. He has more than 15 years of management, technical, operations and marketing experience in lithium-ion battery production and related industries. Most recently, Mr. Ota was Senior Manager of Technology Marketing for Hitachi Chemical Research Center, Inc. Previously, for 15 years, he was with Quallion, LLC, a manufacturer of batteries for medical implants and aerospace applications. At Quallion, Mr. Ota held management positions in Advanced Material Resources, Application Engineering and Marketing and Strategic Planning. He also has approximately five years experience as a consultant for sourcing advanced materials for lithium batteries and other electrochemical devices. Regarding Mr. Ota’s appointment, Mr. Grape commented, “We are extremely fortunate to have Naoki on our senior management team. He will be key in setting up, managing and fine tuning our manufacturing operations to ensure our technology-leading, cost-efficient processes.”

Ronald N. Stewart was named EnerDel’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of EnerDel. Mr. Stewart has been with the Ener1 companies since 2002, serving most recently as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Ener1, Inc. Prior to joining Ener1, Mr. Stewart was engaged in private law practice where he counseled clients primarily in mergers and acquisitions, corporate and securities matters, government and commercial contracts, and technology and software licensing. He previously worked in the Office of General Counsel at ICF Kaiser International, Inc., an NYSE-listed international consulting, engineering and construction firm, where he was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. Mr. Grape commented, “Ron’s experience with and broad knowledge of our operations, history and relationships with our parent company Ener1, Inc. will be a key asset as EnerDel evolves in the marketplace. Further, his legal and intellectual expertise will serve us well as we position the company and its technologies.”

In summarizing the newly named EnerDel management team, CEO Grape concluded, “The battery industry expertise we have assembled within our senior leadership team is ideally suited for executing our business plan. In all major business areas – research, technology application, manufacturing, marketing, financial and legal – we are well positioned to serve the accelerating demand for HEVs and other lithium-ion battery applications, both in the U.S. and globally.”

About Ener1, Inc.
Ener1, Inc (OTC Bulletin Board: ENEI) is an alternative energy technology company. The company's interests include: 80.5% of EnerDel (www.enerdel.com), a lithium battery company in which Delphi Corp. owns 19.5%; 49% of Enerstruct, a Japanese lithium battery technology company in which Ener1's strategic investor ITOCHU owns 51 %; wholly owned subsidiary EnerFuel, a fuel cell testing and component company (www.enerfuel.com); and wholly owned subsidiary NanoEner, which develops nanotechnology-based materials and manufacturing processes for batteries and other applications (www.nanoener.com). For more information, visit http://www.ener1.com.

Safe Harbor Statement (ENER1, Inc.)
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 conveying management's expectations as to the future based on plans, estimates and projections at the time the statements are made. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not necessarily limited to, EnerDel's ability to succeed as a supplier of batteries to the hybrid electric vehicle and other markets; the ability of Ener1 to complete the proposed spin-off of its equity interests in EnerDel, Inc., NanoEner, Inc. and EnerFuel, Inc., including securing financing to adequately capitalize each company and obtaining required regulatory and third-party approvals; successfully develop and market proposed lithium battery, fuel cell and nanotechnology-based products and services; Ener1's plans to reduce costs and gain a competitive advantage by consolidating manufacturing operations and implementing automated production processes; charges Ener1 will incur in connection with consolidating manufacturing operations; the degree of competition in the markets for lithium battery, fuel cell and nanotechnology-based products and services, Ener1's history of operating losses, the lack of operating history for the development stage Ener1 businesses, the need for additional capital, the dependency upon key personnel and other risks detailed in Ener1's annual report on Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2004, as well as in its other filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results or performance to differ materially from any future results or performance expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements included in this release. Ener1 undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.