Two firms announce competing fuel cell phone chargers

01/10, 11:30am

Fuel cells reach consumers

Long-awaited fuel cell technology is about to reach consumers, and two companies are showing off competing technologies at CES. Medis Technologies is using alkaline technology in its squeeze-to-activate power packs, while Horizon Fuel Cell Tehnology is using compact hydrogen-based cylinders about the size of conventional flashlight batteries.

05/02, 4:35pm

Sony hybrid fuel cell

Sony showed off a tiny fuel cell at the Smart Fuel Cells 2008 exhibition that ends today, which combines a fuel cell, Li-polymer battery and control circuit for the first time. In testing conducted in Japan, Sony found a 1Seg video broadcast can play for 14 hours on 10mL of methanol. Use of a refined technology using the fuel cell could significantly boost the run times of today's consumer electronics, specifically laptop and cellphone batteries.