Toshiba's Fuel Cell Phone Charger Uses Liquid As Power

Shot not carrying fuel of any sort on me. The idea is interesting, but again this is not practical.

The practicality lies in the energy density of the fuel. If the fuel (methanol in this case) can provide more energy than batteries of a comparable size and weight, then it becomes a more practical alternative. The real advantage that I foresee would be if, for example, your laptop had a refillable fuel cell. The time to refill a fuel cell is a matter of seconds, opposed to the many minutes required to recharge a battery. Not to mention the fact that fuel can be brought along with you to places without electricity. I expect we will see future devices equipped with hybrid battery/fuel cell energy storage systems.

If the picture is accurate, I'm afraid that this will be too large for most users. But the idea of the fuel cell is an important one, and goes great with laptop power, where the cell can fit right in to the battery compartment. Pity that they'll likely only be produced for current and future devices; I'll not be using my TiBook off one any time soon.

Fortunately methanol (in appropriate quantities and containers) has been approved for air travel for a couple years now.

From what I recall, you can take the fuel cells on the airplane, but you can't take any additional fuel with you.

This is so awesome! I've been wanting fuel cell tech to reach mainstream for years now. Casio was supposed to have battery replacement cells available in 2004, with functioning prototypes shown off in 2003. Someone must have greased some palms, though, since they never showed up. Let's hope Toshiba can get away with this one without attracting the major battery maker's evil gaze.