Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Micro Fuel Cells surge with power to spare

Posted by Hemos on from the been-hearing-this-for-a-while dept.

OogamrM writes "CNN (http://www.cnn.com) has a story (http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/09/22/micro.fu el.cells.ap/index.html) about a new generation of fuel cells. They are so small that they are expected to be able to replace batteries in mobile phone and notebook PCs, and last 10 times as long as the best batteries available today. "In the long run, just about anywhere where high-end batteries are the right answer, these devices should be a better answer," say one fuel cell developer. Expect to be able to buy one sometime in 2004."

1 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. But...... by Catmeat · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I bet battery companies going to love this. A laptop battey may not have much of a runtime but the actual cost of running it is minimal. A fraction of a penny is all it costs to recharge the thing.

    In this scenario, a fuel cell powered laptop would need a reactant cartridge that the user must throw away and replace periodically. I'd be willing to bet they'll use some sort of propriatory interface so you're stuck with buying cartridges from the same company for the whole lifetime of the laptop. Aside from an improved runtime, it's really no different to running your equipment from throw-away batteries.

    Rechargable batteries suck but I think I'd prefer to stick with them.