Fuel Cells To Appear In Laptops In 2004

prostoalex writes "The overhyped fuel cells will finally be delivered to the portable computing market. Toshiba and NEC will incorporate fuel cells into the laptops by 2004. Sony, Hitachi and Casio are expected to follow the suit. The tests show a fuel cell lasting 10 hours. With the form-factor of a Bic lighter, it allows the laptop user to carry a few extra cells in the laptop bag all the time. Battery prices are expected to run at about $200."

Comments

Can't wait to buy the first generation....

[donnacha]

Booooooooooooooooooooommmmmmm!!!!!!



... damn, I liked my testicles.

Universal Refil and Apple

[ModernGeek]

I want to know if the fuel can be stored in a canister like butane is, and have it so you can refill the little cartidges with somthing like that, so you can buy the stuff from any place like a gas station or any other type of store, for a cheap price. I also want to know if Apple has plans to embrace the technology, and if they could cram the entire fuelcell into a battery pack, so it can be an option to use a recharage laptop battery or a fuel cell, and have it use the same slot, etc. Out of curiousity, do the 12/15/17"PBG4s and the iBook have the same type of battery, as it would help a new option of a fuel cell in a batterypack form come along, and it could be easially refilled. Any input on this?

Upcoming Spam

[PhoenixOne]

"After about 10 hours of operation, you will pop out a fuel cell cartridge about the size of a Bic lighter or inkjet cartridge"

Is it just me, or can you already see the "FILL YOUR OWN FUEL CELL AND SAVE $$$" spam filling your mailbox? ;)

Why do I get the feeling...

[woobieman29]

That the manufacturers will pull an 'Ink Jet Cartridge' here and make it so that these things are not (easily) refillable? Plan on having to buy these only from the manufacturer, at a ridiculously inflated price. The whole Ink Jet cartridge BS is the main reason I stepped up and bought a laser printer for home use.

Re:Will security allow them on planes?

[maeka]

Sounds rather like a potential weapon to me. In which case what's the point?

If you would RTFA you would see that the fuel would be somewhere around 24% methanol / 76% water. One of those single serving vodka bottles would make a better weapon.

Re:Inflammable means Flammable? What a country!

[exhilaration]

Anyways, a savvy airline would PROHIBIT them as carry ons, and then sell them to users on board, like the movie theaters do with food.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - MOD THIS DOWN, MOD THIS DOWN!!! We can't allow this to be seen by an airline executive!!!!! Damn yooouuuu!!!!

Re:Will security allow them on planes?

[Esion Modnar]

fuel would be somewhere around 24% methanol / 76% water. One of those single serving vodka bottles would make a better weapon.

And a better cocktail, IMHO. That other stuff will make you blind.

A pic and a link

[BlackHat]

Picture of one for laptops
from
Fuelcell.org
you may now mod this as redundant.

Re:The most important thing article doesnt mention

[homer_ca]

Methanol itself is dirt cheap. It's a little more expensive than gasoline, and these fuel cells only use a 24% solution of methanol. 24% is less flammable than the vodka from the drink cart. Article says nothing about refilling, but the potential for profiteering is there by forcing people to buy prefilled fuel canisters just like with inkjets. Of course, the manufacturers will say that they just want to guarantee you the best quality fuel because who knows what impurities are in Brand X methanol mix that'll contaminate your fuel cell.

Not Untill The Recharges Are "Free"

[MBCook]

I'd like more battery life just as much as the next guy, but I don't intend to replace my laptop's batteries untill recharges are "free".

Right now, how does it work? I use my battery, and it gets low. Then I plug my laptop in and after a short time, the battery is "magically" refilled, and it didn't cost my any money (my electric bill, but that's a few cents max). I can recharge my laptop ANYWHERE I can find an outlet, which is just about anywhere.

Now for the fuel cell battery. I use my battery and it's gone. Now I have to recharge it with a new little lighter sized cartridge thing. I don't want to pay $5 for 'em. I don't want to pay $1 for 'em. If I got a few refillable fuel "cartridges" when I bought my laptop and some kind of home refuling station that would use my natural gas line or something, I would consider it, maybe. I'll take my 3 or 4 hour battery life over your 10 since mine is free. And when do I need 10 hours of battery life anyway? Most people probably don't, as they could probably find places to plug in by then.

So how do you get me to do something like this? Make a fuel cell battery that works with something like pure hydrogen and oxygen. It mixes them to make electricity and stores the water in a little compartment. Then when I plug my laptop into the wall, it uses the electricity to reseperate the water into hydrogen and oxygen and stores them back in their own little compartments. Basically a sealed system that works just like a standard battery. I really don't care what's in it, or how it works, but unless it works a LOT like a battery, I'm not terribly interested. I'm not paying for what I get for "free".