HARRISBURG, Pa.---Sixty-two Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. customers in the Harrisburg area will test-drive the General Motors prototype Impact electric vehicle during the next six months through a unique electric vehicle demonstration program.

The Pennsylvania test, the sixth stop of GM's PrEView Drive Program, was announced at a news conference outside the Capitol building in Harrisburg on Wednesday (4/19). The PrEView Drive is a two-year, nationwide field test to evaluate electric vehicle technology and electric vehicle infrastructure.

Lt. Gov. Mark S. Schweiker helped kick-off the program at a joint news conference with PP&L and GM.

"We are pleased to welcome the PrEView Drive to Pennsylvania," said Schweiker. "This is an excellent opportunity for commonwealth residents to help shape the future of transportation and to show their support for clean fuel alternatives."

The drivers were selected from about 5,000 PP&L customers who volunteered for the program. Each participant will test-drive the Impact for two weeks.

"Because the success of electric vehicles will be determined by the market, we are going to the market to find out how EVs perform in the real world and what people think about them," said James N. Ellis, director of engineering for GM Electric Vehicles. "GM wants electric vehicles to be a marketplace success, but that will be accomplished only by producing an electric vehicle that is affordable and meets the potential customer's performance requirements, and by developing an infrastructure to support EVs."

The PrEView Drive is a partnership with leading electric utilities across the country, including PP&L. Through it, PP&L will gain important data on electric vehicle energy usage and other infrastructure issues.

"Electric vehicles represent a window to the future in transportation technology," said William F. Hecht, PP&L's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Test programs like this offer excellent opportunities for us to learn more about what it will take to help open that window and pave the way for alternative fuel transportation."

PrEView data is collected by two methods. Test-drivers fill out a trip diary, which is mailed to GM at the end of each day, and on-board data-collection equipment monitors the Impact's systems. This data is retrieved by GM engineers every two weeks.

PrEView Drive has completed its six-month runs in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco and is currently operating in Sacramento and New York. When the program concludes in 1996, nearly 800 utility customers in 12 U.S. cities will have test-driven the Impact.