A company called Lilliputian Systems has developed a fuel cell to replace Lithium-Ion Batteries in electronics industry. It will be very interesting to see how science will be able to evolve from this point on as the new fuel cell system that runs on butane cartridges is able to replace heavy laptop and mobile batteries.
The system had a lot of technical challenges to overcome in the past but it will be on the market by the mid of next year.
The fuel cell system will be used on airplanes as well, as butane is sold in sealed cartridges with chip identification.
The cost of a butane cartridge that can recharge an iPhone 16-20 times is around $1 – $3 and the fuel cell system costs about $200 initially.
The estimation is to go down to $100 after a time on the market. Mouli Ramani, vice president of business development at Lilliputian Systems plans to introduce the fuel cells directly into mobile phones and other consumer electronics.
The fuel cell system developed by Lilliputian Systems is able to store 5-10 times more energy than conventional lithium-ion batteries and the recharge takes only the time necessary to swap the cartridge.
