A Japanese start-up says it has finessed a technology that could finally make consumer-grade fuel cells a reality. If successful, the company, Aquafairy, would create a business where many much larger companies have failed.
Prototypes of the company's hydrogen fuel cell technology are on show this week at the Ceatec exhibition in Japan where the company's president, Mike Aizawa, said he hopes the first products will be on sale next year.
The promise of fuel cells is attractive: instantly available electricity from a safe, disposable fuel cartridge. They are typically seen as a way to provide electricity where there is no power grid, when electricity supply has failed or, in a portable package, for on-the-go charging of gadgets such as smartphones or tablets.
Japan's major electronics companies went through a period of several years beginning around 2005 when they showed prototype fuel cells, but none of them ever managed to reach the market and much of that research appears to have ended.
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