Recharge anywhere

Consumers have trouble focusing on the distant promise of fuel cells to power their cars.

CONSUMERS have trouble focusing on the distant promise of fuel cells to power their cars. But fuel cells to recharge their cellphones, PDAs, MP3 players and other hand-held devices? That might be a different story8212; especially if those fuel cells, far from any wall outlet, could inject an inexpensive, vivifying stream of electricity into, say, a fading Nokia and recharge it for three 10-hour runs, or provide 60 to 80 hours of music played on an iPod.

Such a gadget is indeed in the works, although it is not quite yet on store shelves or inside commuters8217; briefcases. Throughout this month, a lightweight, disposable fuel cell developed in Israel is being shipped to hundreds of potential customers in the United States, Europe, mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and other places where people love their Razrs, BlackBerries and PlayStation Portables.

The fuel cell is housed in a flexible plastic shell a bit larger than a deck of cards. The cell comes with a cable to link it to the device that needs recharging. Squeeze the shell8212;the container resists slightly and pleasantly as it clicks shut8212;plug in the cable, and the fuel cell starts to do its work: a chemical reaction produces electricity, and a dead Razr is brought to life more swiftly than Frankenstein.

Will people take to this new way to recharge devices? That is the hope of Gennadi Finkelshtain, deviser of the system and general manager of More Energy, a company in Lod, Israel, outside of Tel Aviv, that is already producing the fuel cell systems on a semi-automated line. More Energy is a subsidiary of Medis Technologies, which is based in New York.

Mass production is scheduled for Ireland in the first half of 2007, and if the dreams of Finkelshtain and his backers come true, fuel cells will take their place on the shelves of many a shop, grocery and convenience store.

Many other micro fuel cells for various uses are either on the market or will be soon, said Sara Bradford, one of the people on Finkelshtain8217;s list to receive a trial fuel cell. She is an analyst at the consulting firm Frost 038; Sullivan, which did a study of micro fuel cell markets around the world. She is looking forward to trying out the device.

8216;8216;This is the first fuel cell recharger pack,8217;8217; said Bradford. 8216;8216;There8217;s nothing like this in terms of a fuel cell.8217;8217; If the company meets its deadline, she said, it will be the first to mass-produce portable fuel cell rechargers, predicting that such a product would have 8216;8216;a big market8217;8217;.

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Batteries, however dramatic their evolution, have not been able to keep up with consumer demand for portable power. 8216;8216;Every year, every few months, there8217;s a widening of this power gap,8217;8217; Bradford said. Always, it8217;s 8216;8216;a question of how long your batteries run versus how long you want them to run8217;8217;.

Small fuel cells are exciting as they address this consumer yearning. 8220;People say I want my cellphone to run longer; I want to watch a couple of movies on my PlayStation,8217;8217; she said.

The fuel cell has a simple basis, Finkelshtain said: sodium borohydride, mixed with an electrolyte, potassium hydroxide and a small amount of alcohol. When a user squeezes the cover, 8216;8216;the electrolyte goes to the electrolyte chamber and the fuel to the fuel chamber8217;8217;. Oxygen from the air8212;the cover has small slots incised in it8212;reacts with the fuel to produce electrical energy. The pack can be stored for a year, he said; once activated, the cell will last two months.

Until now, fuel cells, invented in 1839, have made their way successfully onto space shuttles, but not yet into our daily lives. Maybe Finkelshtain8217;s ingenious pocket recharger will begin to change all of that.

8212;ANNE EISENBERG