NEC Shows Laptop With Fuel Cell

Japanese computer giant NEC Corp. revealed a prototype of a laptop computer that runs on a methanol fuel cell instead of a rechargeable battery and said it would start selling it next year.

A number of companies are developing similar fuel cells, which promise to power electronics 10 times as long as lithium-ion batteries.

NEC plans to introduce a computer with a fuel-cell system able to run for five hours on a single cartridge of methanol fuel but also plans to make a PC within two years that can run continuously for as long as 40 hours.

Fuel cells produce electricity without generating pollutants, through an electrochemical reaction that uses oxygen and hydrogen.