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Motorola Makes Gasoline Powered Cell Phones
Wister285 writes "Well, now that PDAs are integrated with cell phones, you'll need some extra juice to power that thing. Motorola seems to think that the next generation of cell phones needs to be powered by gas (fuel cells). Supposedly these cell phones can last for a whole month without needing to be recharged. Batteries are not being eliminated since the "power plant" of the phone is located on the user's belt. Seems interesting. Gives a whole new meaning to "Fill 'er up!""
Could this be the "Killer App" for fuel cells?
They won't get cheaper untill there's a mass market, cell phones could be the answer.
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Seeing as how slashdot is "very busy person"-powered, I think we should cut them some slack.
Well... maybe you don't own a car? Maybe you only go with cabs, which have ride times that don't allow full charge? Maybe you are taking part in the Rallye Paris-Dakar and your diesel-generator failed? Maybe you're CNN staff in a rural country where power outlets are rare... Or you travela alot and hate to fiddle with all these different standards for power outlets and voltages? Maybe you just want the UNIVERSAL charger for all your stuff...
I can see some useful applications for this.
+++ath0
How would you go about recharging a methane fuel cell? Would you plug it in to the wall? Carry a container of methane gas? How long is the cell life with recharge? Or would you just throw it out and buy a new one?
Gone but not... ummm
Don't forget the most important propertis.
-Most of the waste in a standard battery is highly toxic, regardless of which battery technology you choose, with the only differentiating factor being how deadly. The only waste from one of these fuel cells will be a little platic canister that may take eons to degrade, but environmentally will resemble a rock.
-Buy a pack of batteries and let them sit 6 months before you put them to use. How often do you use that flashlight? Do you check to batteries regularly to make sure that it will work when needed? Assuming a reliable enclosure system, methane cells will easily have a shelf life of something bordering on FOREVER!
-Batteries are damned inneficient. AC power is produced from burning fossil fuels, travels over miles of cables, gets stepped down through several transformers, converted to a DC and then very innefficiently charges the battery. Even when your not using you device, the charge slowly drains from the battery due to internal currents. Methane cells will deliver all the energy straight to the device, and energy isn't lost during storage.
There are advantages to miniature feul cells that go far beyond convience.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
Actually, to have a fuel cell run off anything other than pure hydrogen requires a reformate process which takes a lot of power and space. The use of methane is only possible becuase the there are Proton Exchange Membranes avaialable that can extract hydrogen directly from methane using different catalyist loadings on the anode. While it is possible to run a cell from methane the effeciency is much lower than that of a hydrogen fuel cell, and the chances of the PEM fouling are much higher.
It is so disturbing to see people commenting on stories with so much authority, when it is quite obvious that they have no idea what they are talking about (not particularly you FencePost, its just that I have seen many Fuel Cell realated stories posted here, and people make comments on them like they are experts). I am a Mechanical Engineer deeply involved in fuel cell research, and I would never assume to open my mouth in a forum about Networking protocols and such. Please have the same repsect and do not pretent to be an authority when you are not (again, not directed on you FencePost, your comment was fairly tame, it just so happenes I am responding to this post when feeling this way)