Toshiba To Show Laptop Fuel Cells at CeBit

war3rd writes "According to The Register, Toshiba has finally been able to build a fuel cell for laptops that they will unveil at CeBit next week. The fuel cells are expected to last approximately 5 hours and are compatible with existing lithium-ion batteries. Form factor remains the only issue. The trick is that they use the water by-product from the cell to dilute the methanol source as it enters the reformer, and are therefore able to store higher concentrations of methanol in the cell. My only concern is how quickly can they get this to market?"

Comments

Um, what's the point?

[Visigothe]

As others have pointed out, 5 hours on a laptop is *nothing* The batteries on my iBook do that just fine. Sure it takes me a couple of hours to fully recharge, but that's what a second battery is for, should I need one. Also, I don't have to refill, nor throw away spent fuel cells. It sounds like manually refueling would be a pain in the arse [for a laptop]. Vehicles using fuel cells sound much more interesting

What would be interesting would be a fuel cell laptop that got maybe 24 hours on a "charge".

This just seems like gadgetry for its own sake

.

Ultracapacitors?

[Cutie Pi]

Why don't we here more about ultracapacitors:

http://www.maxwell.com/ultracapacitors/ According to the above page, ultracapacitors "deliver up to 10 times the power, last up to 10 times as long, operate more reliably in high- and low-temperature conditions, require far less maintenance and reduce environmental issues associated with battery disposal" compared to batteries. I recently read about a hybrid automobile that will be using ultracaps (don't remember who). It seems like these could be implemented in laptops and cell phones.

Why I can't wait for small fuel cells...

[cr0sh]

I am currently in the process of building a recumbent electric vehicle from bicycle frames (I basically have everything done, still need to get the foot rests in place, and the drive system in) - I have designed it to use four 12V gel-cell batteries (ie, the 7AH powercell kind), or possibly even glassmat if I can get them cheap enough. However, the things are heavy. I would love to have a fuel cell that I could easily "fill up" with common fuels (gasoline, methanol, ethenol, butane, propane - I don't care).

BTW, before anyone questions "why don't I use a go-ped like engine" - noise is the main reason, laws are another (as in legal grey area).