Methanol Fuel-Cell Battery For Your Laptop?

Nick writes: "I ran across this accidentally when I was researching fuel cell cars. They have come out with a little methanol fuel-cell battery they hope will be more powerful than lithium ion batteries, at competitive prices too! (well, in five years maybe) Also check out howstuffworks for a great article on fuel cells in general." Beating Li-Ion batteries by a factor of ten is a very worthy goal.

it remains to be seen...

[egomaniac]

It remains to be seen how people will react to having to 'refill' their laptops. It won't take too many methanol spills on the carpeting for somebody to bail on the whole idea.

Batteries suck compared to fuel cells, certainly, but just plugging the laptop in to recharge is about the nicest possible way to deal with power. I know I'd rather carry around an AC adapter than a container of methanol. Further, I don't have to run to the store to buy more electricity when I run out; people may react badly to needing to buy refills.

I love the concept as much as the next guy, but I've been wondering if the practicalities won't end up killing it in the marketplace.

enough with the spills already!

[Anonymous Coward]

People, people, people... if methanol fuel cells become a reality, you can be sure they will be fairly well self-contained. If you're so worried about spills, do you were a hazmat suit everytime you fill up your car with EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS AND FLAMABLE GASOLINE?

I grow tired of the "gee that can't work, it might spill" everytime fuel cells are mentioned on slashdot.

Re:it remains to be seen...

[jht]

I think ultimately you'll see disposable fuel cell "batteries", and/or an infrastructure where you can buy a little cheap pre-filled tank of fuel for it, much as you buy a battery off the shelf today.

Only some of the more esoteric applications will have end-users directly filling the tank themselves. But if you think about it, most portable power applications today excepting laptops) use a disposable battery - so that is easy to replace with compact, disposable tanks. I think laptops will have hybrid power systems, with perhaps a Li-Ion battery embedded in the machine, and a small fuel cell to provide continuous charging of the battery - and it'd run off AC power when stationary.

Given the higher power output and density of a fuel cell versus even a Li-Ion battery, having spares handy isn't quite so important. You don't have to stay so close to a refill point when your runtime is measured in days instead of hours.

Re:it remains to be seen...

[MadCow42]

Who says it has to be the "only" power source in the laptop? Why couldn't you also have a Li-Ion battery and an AC charger as other power options, and swap as the need fits.

I'm sure that the airlines would have an issue with me using a methane-powered device on an airplane... so plug in the Li-Ion. Or, you run out of methane... plug in the AC and Li-Ion for recharging at the same time. It's just as easy as carrying around a spare battery like a lot of people do already.

MadCow.

Re:Carts Re:it remains to be seen...

[thetechweenie]

So,
It would be something like CO2 cartridges for my BB gun or a cheap paintball gun? I would think that they would need to be recycled if this were the case. That would be a huge waste. Not to mention that they probably wouldn't let these things on airplanes. (That is, if they are flamable.) I don't think that we will ever see something like this in the future. I couldn't even board my last flight unless I handed over my cigarette lighter.

Re:Small? Memory? Recharging time?

[JanneM]

Fuel cells aren't really batteries at all in the normal sense. They aren't closed systems, so you don't recharge them, you refill with more methanol. This is a good thing, as it would only take a matter of a minute to get from empty to full, so no more need to have two sets of batteries lying around.

Since they aren't recharged (pushing the chemical reaction in reverse) there is no memory problem either.

/Janne

Methanol toxicity

[sterno]

While you certainly shouldn't start downing shots of methanol, it really isn't terribly toxic by comparison. If you got it on your clothes it would simply evaporate. The heavy metal sludge you find in most modern batteries makes methanol look pretty tame by comparison. It also means that the environmental impact of the used up batteries will be far less than current batteries.

Re:Small? Memory? Recharging time?

[rhekman]

If these fuel-cell batteries are small, don't have a memory, last longer AND have much faster charging times, then I think they will eventually replace Li-Ion batteries.

Don't forget thermal deficiencies!

The thing I look forward too with fuel-cells is trouble-free operation at low temperature. For me, living in North Dakota, if I leave my Li-Ion based laptop in my vehicle for any length of time in the winter, the cells will lose their charge. If it's long enough, I'll even lose the backup battery and the time info. If fuel-cells give me reliable backup power at zero farenheit, plus longer life, sign me up!

Regards,
Reid

Just a Technical Note...

[virg_mattes]

Actually, the phenomenon you're describing is related not to the battery's charge containing capacity so much as its charge delivery capacity. This same thing happens to car batteries left on cold concrete floors. The charge doesn't disappear from the battery (well, a tiny bit does), but as the battery cools its ability to deliver the charge decreases. You'll find that if you chill a fully-charged battery, it'll stop working. But rather then recharging it, if you heat it back up it'll go back to working normally.

Of course, fuel cells do work at virtually any temperature that won't damage the device it's powering, so, as you stated, this wouldn't be an issue.

Virg