LG Chem Plans to Commercialize Portable Fuel Cell

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:40 am

(Seoul, Korea) LG Chem, Ltd., the largest chemical company in Korea, announced today that it has completed its development of portable fuel cells and plans to commercialize the product within this year. Methanol fuel will be used to power the fuel cells.

The durability of LG Chem's fuel cells lasts for more than 4,000 hours, which is 8 times longer than products developed by its competitors.

LG Chem's portable fuel cells are a micro miniaturized product, which is less than 1 liter in the core volume and weighs less than 1 kg. It's easy to carry and can be used to power laptops and other electronic equipment through long periods of time by exchanging cartridges that contain methanol fuel.

1 fuel cell cartridge (200cc capacity) can power a 25W laptop for more than 10 hours.

LG Chem's newly developed fuel cell system produces 25W of power, which is the world's largest power output among its kind. In particular, power hungry devices such as PMP (Portable Multimedia Player); DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) phones and laptops can be powered by using a USB port.

As the power demand for electronic devices such as laptops and cell phones increases, LG Chem plans to further develop various fuel cells which can generate power ranging from 5W to 50W. The company expects to apply the 50W fuel cell to high performance laptops and electronic components; moreover, it hopes to broaden its usage to other devices.

"Developing a fuel cell which has a long durability and reliability is a great opportunity for LG Chem to outpace its competitors and gain a strong presence in the global market," said Jong-Kee Yeo, President and CTO of LG Chem.

"Once the global codes and standards for portable fuel cells are prepared within the end of this year, the company will soon start commercialization by meeting growing demands in areas such as laptops and cell phones. Moreover, it will be applied in areas such as portable electronic devices for the military" the CTO added.

In addition, the global demand for portable fuel cells in 2006 is estimated to reach USD 600 million. The market is expected to reach USD 1.9 billion with a high growth rate of 28.3%/yr by 2010.

The Top of the fuel Cell:

The LG Chem methanol fuel can:

Source: LG Chem

T-Shirt · Post by **T-Shirt** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:08 am

I really want a fuel cell, but this one is too big and too expensive for what it does

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:15 am

would like to see you get on a plane with it... neat idea though.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:31 am

yeah the size is a bit large and the 25W limitation is too small for many notebooks with high end mobile CPU's & MXM graphics.

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:11 pm

Holy smokes! That thing is freaking HUGE!

I wouldn't want one of those. The technology needs to advance a bit more to get me interested. The size and wattage doesn't cut it for me. .. And 25 watts? Uhh, my power supply for my laptop is a 150w, thank you very much. The battery is 6250mah, or 96Wh. This thing doesn't last very long at all. While gaming, maybe an hour, while watching a movie, an hour and 20 minutes.

Like Nate said, it's just way too small for high end notebooks.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:50 pm

Apoptosis wrote:yeah the size is a bit large and the 25W limitation is too small for many notebooks with high end mobile CPU's & MXM graphics.

25W limitation now.. but..in the future I can see this kind of thing being sold in vending machines and such ... 3€ for a small can to charge you mobile 2-3 times... a larger one for your notebook...

eventually the process will be refined and perfected.. (I hope)