Fuel Cells: Turning Vaporware into Vapor-Wares

By Christopher Null

on Thu Jan 5, 5:47 PM ET

Believe it or not, fuel cells are here. No, seriously. I touched one. I watched it charge a Blackberry, a RAZR, and an iPod.

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Medis Technologies is a small company that's doing some pioneering work with a "borohydride-alkaline" solution, somewhat different than the methanol cells that get all the press. But those fuel cells don't exist. Medis's do, and they're coming to stores and cell phone providers this year. Expect to pay $12 to $20 for a cell that will give your phone up to 30 hours of talk time. Are you ready to start ditching your batteries, or will you wait a while to see where fuel cells take us?

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How big is it?

Posted by melissap968 on Thu, Jan 5, 2006 9:57 PM ET

This is not "really" a true thing, that I know of. sd: a longtime technogeek that makes there living doing something entirely different. No one has been able to produce anything for ?

Posted by omarmajid on Thu, Jan 5, 2006 10:22 PM ET

So the Medis just charges the built-in battery in the portable device? That makes it an alternative to a car or wall adapter rather than a long-life battery replacement, right? Can you buy replacement cartridges of the borohydride-alkaline solution or do you buy a new Medis each time the fuel is used up?

Posted by tmcameron@sbcglobal.net on Fri, Jan 6, 2006 1:19 AM ET

Less than 90 words! Why don't you put enought information into the 'brief'article to make it worth clicking on ... ???

Posted by donnclark@sbcglobal.net on Fri, Jan 6, 2006 8:13 AM ET

I thought fuel cells were dangerous and thought it made it very easy for an average joe to make one hell of a bomb.

Posted by jessallus on Fri, Jan 6, 2006 8:24 AM ET

It is a disposable trickle charger for the batteries in your electronic devices. It can only charge your device as fast as your device could be charged from the wall socket. You have to throw it away every 20-30 hours and buy another one for $12-20. This company has a history of not getting products to market. They've been in business since 1992-3 and have yet to bring a product to market. The stock is heavily shorted.

Posted by sonicwind on Fri, Jan 6, 2006 11:48 AM ET

shame ,was hoping for miracle breakthro Ronowe

Posted by yronowe on Fri, Jan 6, 2006 4:53 PM ET