whatever happened to hydrogen fuel cells

[rdeschene2]

About six years ago there was a "buzz" about hydrogen fuel cells. Of all the applications mentioned at that time, the one I thought most likely to succeed was to replace batteries in laptops. I could definitely see people paying a premium to get the same or more hours "between charges", especially if it meant less weight too. Laptop chargers and batteries are already model-specific and people are already used to waiting hours for a recharge, unlike (e.g.) refueling a car in a few minutes. So that was another reason I thought this might succeed.

Six years on and I don't recall any impending product launches around hydrogen fuel cell powered laptops.

Did I miss something ?

Are they just not any improvement (weight, # Ah) over Li-Ion batteries ?

[soulestream]

I think they went the other way with them

They are being produced for cars and tests have begun for homes. Charging the batteries so they can be used during peak hours to power homes.


Instead of small, they are going big.

Soule

[cybertron]

I think the problem is that fuel cells were primarily intended as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, but the process for creating them is so energy intensive that it's not really an improvement in most cases. Also, a big problem for using them in laptops is that they consume fuel so they have to be refilled, not simply recharged. Since hydrogen refill stations are not exactly widespread that's a serious problem.

I think they're still very expensive too so it may just not be economical for laptop manufacturers to make them available when an extremely small percentage of their customers are going to be willing to pay the premium.