Panasonic talks up 2012's hottest fuel cell tech
Alas, here we are, 2008 drawing quickly to a close, and yet we still live in a world where the only viable portable fuel cell system is available exclusively to the US Army (unless you can make due with one lowly watt). Panasonic says we have another four years to wait, planning for a 2012 releasing of device powerful enough to run a notebook yet small enough to fit inside a battery compartment. The company estimates up to 5 hours of power could be had from 50cc of "highly concentrated" methanol, and of course you'd always be just a squirt away from a full charge -- the same sort of promises we've heard again and again about this tech. Four years may seem like a long way off, but it's surely more realistic than the release dates we've seen on some earlier prototypes.
Update: A few 200cc, 20-hour prototypes displayed after the break.
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