Fuel cells increase talk time

Earlier this year, Medis Technologies unveiled a small fuel cell that acts as a portable power source for personal electronics like cellphones, laptops and MP3 players. It is a power solution that promises to keep gadgets running after the batteries have run out, meaning you don't have to hunt for wall sockets after your normal battery's charge is lost.

The Medis 24-7 Powerpack uses tiny amounts of fuel (liquid borohydride) that generate electricity to power devices through a USB port. Unfortunately though, once a Powerpack runs out, it has to be recycled.

Companies are working towards creating fuel cell power sources that can be refueled, but have yet to bring one to market. Fuel cell technology has long been a vision that was not seeing fruition but it may soon become more readily available because of changes in key regulations concerning flying with fuel cells.

This year, the Department of Transportation changed its regulations to allow cell phones with methanol, butane and formic acid on airplanes.

"That was one of the largest challenges to this market, to overcome that regulation issue," said Sara Bradford, an energy and power systems consultant for Frost & Sullivan in an Associated Press story.

Lilliputian Systems, a Massachusetts's based company plans to launch a portable fuel cell charger the size of a cigarette lighter for cell phones, digital cameras, iPods and GPS devices by the end of next year.

The Associated Press reported that one teaspoon of fuel from the product will provide about 20 times the run time of a battery the same size. The company plans to sell the product for $100 to $150 with refill cartridges that go for $1 to $3.

Despite the advances, researchers are cautiously optimistic.

"We're not around the corner," said Mouli Ramani, a vice president at Lilliputian Systems, in The Associated Press report. "We're still 12 months to 15 months away from having this in consumers hands."