Panasonic's New Micro Fuel Cell for Portable Electronics

Matsushita, a division of Panasonic, has unveiled a new direct methanol fuel cell (the kind we've shown you before) designed to power portable electronics. Similar to the one pictured, it's smaller and more powerful than comparable models developed to date; at 24 cubic inches, it is about the size of a soda can and about half the size of previous models by Toshiba and Fujitsu. With an average output of 13 watts, a peak output of 20 watts, and low weight due to its reduced size (it weighs about a pound when empty), a laptop using this fuel cell is able to achieve up to 20 hours of runtime. A system showcasing the fuel cell's abilities was demonstrated at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, so we can only hope they'll hit the shelves before we have to buy another desk calendar. ::Panasonic via ::Gizmodo