LG to be the first to commercially produce fuel cel batteries for portables
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
LG Chem, a subsidiary of Korean-basedLG Electronics, announced today it plans to be the first company to commercially produce fuel cel batteries for notebook computers and other portables. The batteries, powered by removable methanol canisters, are currently able to produce 25W of power for 10 hours (per canister). The cell itself is expected to last for over 4000 hours. Right now the solution seems less than ideal for portables, as the battery is roughly the size of an external hard drive, and carrying around extra methanol canisters while traveling could prove inconvenient to say the least. Still the project looks promising. Smaller version are planed for devices such as MP3 players, with power outputs ranging from 5W and 50W.
Rumors circulated last year that Apple was looking into fuel cel batteries for use in its PowerBook line.
