Hydrogen fuel cells were supposed to be the savior for all, however, we have always only heard that they are just around the corner. Quite a corner to make, wouldn’t you agree? All this, however, didn’t keep a UK based company from working their way towards a future where other devices and iPhone would not need any electricity for charging but would rather make use of embedded fuel cells for gaining the required power. These fuel cells will be able to crank power for a week before recharge is required.
Intelligent Energy has been at it for a number of years and aims at ringing fuel cells to the distribution industry and power generation while also catering to the consumer electronics and transportation sectors. The company has also introduced the Upp portable charger that is being sold in some of the UK Apple stores and claims that it can charge a smartphone for five time with one of its replaceable fuel cartridge.
To bring the same technology to smartphones, either for powering the device directly or by charging an internal lithium-ion battery would allow for the amazing leap in battery improvement that we all are yearning for.
Intelligent Energy has reportedly managed to come up with a working prototype of an iPhone that is being run off the embedded fuel cell. The company is in collaboration with Apple and Apple has already applied for a patent that talks about embedding a hydrogen fuel cell in a device apart from the rechargeable battery. Intelligent Energy blogpost says, “Once our fuel cell technology is brought to the inside of the consumer electronic device, we will have moved some way to becoming liberated from the electrical grid entirely. Smartphones could then be able to generate their own clean power and the dream of a week of battery life could be a reality.”