Apple Said to Be Working with Intelligent Energy on Fuel Cell Technology for Portable Devices

[ThunderSkunk]

Energy research that is not limited to technologies made popular in the 1800s I find frivolous, pointless, wasteful, and hostile to the established, accepted power structures that define this country and the world by extension. Coal and petroleum have served us well and will continue to do so. These other avenues are incredibly offensive to me and my interests, and prompt me to write and donate to congressmen dedicated to defunding and/or outright banning these hostile, subversive, unpatriotic, and frankly, un-American technologies.

 

[wizard]

If Apple solves the battery life problem with a crazy leap forward like this then people will finally shut up about the post-jobs innovation problem

No they won't. These people don't even realize what role Jobs played in innovation at Apple. Think about it, the iOS devices have been on a whirl wind of innovation the last few years but people refuse to see it so that they can trumpet the party line about no innovation from Apple.

 

[flux73]

IMHO, fuel cells will never be practical for portable electronics. Graphene capacitors has far greater potential.

 

[wizard]

Incredibly fascinating. I have no idea how they're going to handle charging up the laptop with hydrogen or dealing with the water produced in catalyst, but it's intriguing.

Many things can be used successfully in fuel cell systems. You could build a fuel cell that runs on whisky if you wanted too. As for the water you will need to take your Mac for a walk so that it can take a pee just like the family dog.

 

[TWSS37]

Peasants? Says the person proudly sporting 3+ year old tech (iPhone 4) in their signature....

I can't update it :/

 

[baryon]

Popular Science material. I haven't read Popular Science since they were obsessing over flying cars and 3-wheeled motorcycles, but I'll bet they're going nuts with graphene.

Yeah that. I used to read Wired and be like "OMG I've been missing out on the world! Everything is so interesting and awesome!" But then after a while you realize all the articles are written to the same template and none actually contain information.

"Here's how scientists replicated God using a 3D printer and an Arduino board!"
"The hacker who downloaded the entire internet onto his knee!"
"The next iPhone will be entirely made of this material!"
"DNA rewritten using World War II typewriter and Visual Basic 2.0!"

 

[wizard]

Last i checked fuel cells were in "the low 5 digits" according to the company i was inquiring from. These were small ones as well as far as these things go.

Five digit what? Price? Thickness? Volume?

Really curious how Apple could move the needle on this tech, because it is the most amazing thing since the Internal Combustion Engine. ( Yes and better than graphene).

They are amazing but fuel cell tech has existed for decades now. It isn't exactly a new technology from basic principles. At best a company like this can through new materials technology at the problem. I'm just not convinced that they can ever be volume effcient, that is provide the same amount of power in a similar case volume Apple currently uses.

It would make for interesting power backup for a desktop installation. Instead of powering a battery charger you would fill up a passive tank with a suitable fluid. Nothing is perfect of course as you would now have leaks as a problem as opposed to batteries that can't take a charge anymore.

 

[slimjimtx]

Peasants? Says the person proudly sporting 3+ year old tech (iPhone 4) in their signature....

If it works, who are you to judge? Not everyone has to have the latest gadget.

 

[brueck]

This will only happen if Apple can radically increase the energy density of fuel cells. Elon Musk calls them 'fool cells' for a reason. Also, no electronics use fuel cells for power for a reason.

 

[wizard]

"Fuel cell firm Intelligent Energy may be partnering with Apple."

The key here is that a company called Intelligent Energy already has fuel cell technology and intends to use them with portable devices, Apple wants to apply this technology to their own products. Apple isn't innovating anything here.

You have no information at all to even make such a statement.

All that is happening "post-jobs" is still promoting a myth that Apple actually innovates and not just adapts other people's technology into their products.

If the article is true there is no telling how deeply involved Apple is with this team. Beyond that adapting products is exactly what all companies do. Even Apple buys much of its electronic componentry from other sources. The innovation comes from knowing how to put them together in new and effcient ways. This has been the case with Apple since the Apple 2 days where they innovated with off the shelf hardware.

 

[macduke]

If Apple solves the battery life problem with a crazy leap forward like this then people will finally shut up about the post-jobs innovation problem

If there is one thing I've learned in life, it's this: People will never shut up.

Sorry to be that guy but 99% of the contents of the Daily Mail is unsubstantiated rumour...

So not too different than the stories posted around here every day.

 

[wizard]

What exactly is a fuel cell, a hydrogen-powered battery-like device? EDIT: That's what it seems to be. The hydrogen is stored as gas. That doesn't sound very safe or compact, plus I've heard that this tabloid doesn't report true facts. I've also seen Daily Mail on my Google News feed, and I've lumped them in the trash pit with RT and Huffington Post already.

You can run fuel cells on many fluids such as alcohols, hydrogen does not need to be supplied in its elemental form. As it is though all forms of stored energy have the potential to be dangerous. Plain old batteries can go into thermal run away, explode or other wise fail in hazardous ways. Gasoline is highly volatile but we use it daily. Even a tree is a form of stored energy and can get very hot when burned.

As for labeling this publication as a tabloid, every publication makes mistakes from time to time. Even a tabloid dedicated to the lighter side of the news will get a lead on real news from time to time. The only reasonable thing to do here is to is verify the reports via other channels. It isn't impossible for this to be a factual report but no rational person puts faith in a single source for news these days. So if you are concerned research what is up.

 

[wizard]

Popular Science material. I haven't read Popular Science since they were obsessing over flying cars and 3-wheeled motorcycles, but I'll bet they're going nuts with graphene.

I'm surprised they are even publishing any more, Popular Science use to be an interesting publication along with Popular Mechanics. Both of these magazines have avoided publishing anything of value in years. Sad really as they once had articles that took a writer more than 15 minutes to complete. I'm not even sure the writers take 15 minutes anymore as it often looks like they just copy press releases and leave it at that.

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My future iPhone is not going to have a mini power plant generating electricity. And if it does, I'm not putting it in my jeans pocket by my junk.

Actually that is a real concern. However have you ever seen what happens when a lithium battery catches on fire? The fact is stored energy is stored energy and there is no 100% safe way to store that energy.

Seriously, what would be the point? You would still have to hook the fuel cell up to a fuel source. If you are storing the energy, then you can store in the form of the fuel or in the form of electricity stored on a battery. I'd rather have a battery than a small canister of natural gas or hydrogen filled up in my phone.

Many fuel cells operate on various forms of Alcohol so the danger isn't that great.

I'm pretty sure the iPhone battery issue is solved by iPhone 7 at the latest. IPhone 6 might get it done between a combination of a larger battery and more energy efficient OS and 20-nm CPU. Once the battery gets big enough, then it is good enough. iPads and Macbooks are at that stage. Only the iPhone remains to annoy us with dead batteries. If Iphone 6 doesn't solve this, then I'm sure iPhone 7 does.

It is largely a matter of opinion. From my standpoint batteries do not solve the problem of portable energy well. They are hazardous to handle and dispose of. They also require access to rare elements that inflate costs.

Your issue with safety is rational but I think you severly discount just how hazardous batteries are. Fuel cells have to potential to be much better.

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Having to gas up the iPhone ain't gonna go well with the Eco Crowd.

I would say just the opposite. Fuel cells can run on many different fluids some are basically alcohols that you can manufacture in your basement, backyard or someplace not seen by the tax man.

 

[wizard]

I'm not sure if you are serious or not.

I'm the first to object to seriously questionable alternative enegry solutions like massive fields of solar arrays. However I think you have a few things wrong here. First it is very American to innovate when it comes to energy production and usage. For example the U.S. had energy efficiency standards for electric motors well before the rest of the world.

Energy research that is not limited to technologies made popular in the 1800s I find frivolous, pointless, wasteful, and hostile to the established, accepted power structures that define this country and the world by extension. Coal and petroleum have served us well and will continue to do so. These other avenues are incredibly offensive to me and my interests, and prompt me to write and donate to congressmen dedicated to defunding and/or outright banning these hostile, subversive, unpatriotic, and frankly, un-American technologies.

I really hope you are just being a pain in the posterior today. The negativity associated with the petroleum industry may be massively over stated but that still doesn't mean alternatives aren't worth pursuing. What we need these days is a rational energy policy as the current policies do more harm than good.

 

[CarpalMac]

If it works, who are you to judge? Not everyone has to have the latest gadget.

Lol! Someone calls android users peasants and you think that i'm the one judging? Fanboyism at its best.

 

[ActionableMango]

Last i checked fuel cells were in "the low 5 digits" according to the company i was inquiring from. These were small ones as well as far as these things go.

Well don't buy from that company! Last I checked, a fuel cell that was just powerful enough for USB charging tablets (5 volts, 2 amps) was $150 on Amazon.

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But then what will the trolls complain about?

I don't know what trolls will complain about. But fuel cells produce water vapor, so I'm pretty sure reasonable people would complain about that happening in their pocket, desk, glovebox, purse, laptop bag, etc.

 

[MacSince1990]

This thin.

Image

ROFL.

Poor Ives, I wonder if he ever sees how people make fun of his ridiculous videos.

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Apple is premium tech; people should have no problem spending that kind of money if they want a phone that separates them from the Android peasants.

*Facepalm*

 

[TsunamiTheClown]

Apple is premium tech; people should have no problem spending that kind of money if they want a phone that separates them from the Android peasants.

Well said sir.

 

[TallManNY]

I'm curious what you mean by "iPhone battery issue"?

You seem to be suggesting that the iPhone has horrible battery life on a grand scale. Maybe that is a reality (yes, I charge my iPhone 4 every day, too). But what you're failing to identify is that there is a certain user responsibility to ensure that a device makes the most of its resources.

Let's use a car as an example. If the driver of a car never performed regular maintenance on it, then eventually the performance and efficiency of that car will degrade.

The same logic can be applied to a phone. If I use 10 apps in a given day, and leave them all running, how will my battery perform? Some of those apps may be doing stuff that is sucking up juice. I personally experience this. If I leave the Facebook app running, goodbye battery. Even my own bank's app, goodbye battery. Proactively quitting these apps preserves battery life by a very noticeable amount.

How about Bluetooth and Wi-Fi? If I leave those turned on while I don't need them, that's like leaving my car's windshield wipers going simply because I'm too lazy to turn them off. Those wipers are wasting energy (fuel).

So, my point is, it's as much the user's responsibility to maximize battery life as it is Apple's. I mention this because I'm curious if you are proactive in managing your phone's battery in these ways?

I mean it has battery issues in a way that the iPad and Laptops no longer do. There is basically no such thing as charging your iPad over night, taking it out when you wake up, and then being out of juice by the end of the day, no matter how late your night goes. But folks run out of iPhone power all the time. There is a battery issue in the way people use it during real world situations. The battery issue becomes serious after you have had the iPhone for two years unless you replace the battery. After three years on the same battery and you have a problem. A three year old iPad will still make through a solid day of use.

I don't personally have any iPhone battery issue because (a) I've replaced the battery on my 5, (b) I usually am carrying my iPad Mini, and (c) I also carry a Blackberry and use that more often than my iPhone for messaging and email (the hub, keyboard and the UI is, in my opinion, superior to iOS). But there is smartphone battery issue out there for most users.

 

[d-klumpp]

Not saying that this is it, but whoever wins the race to produce a sensibly sized smart phone with enough juice to last 2+ days on a single charge with accepted average levels of daily use will be the next to be truly able to claim "this changes everything".

I'm lucky if my phone lasts till the late evening after an 8am start and I am definitely not a heavy user.

I do not charge my iPhone 5 daily, despite frequent use. But at work I'm typically in a WiFi environment and keep most battery-sucking Settings off, anyway.

I know that battery life is a major concern to the initiated readers of this site, but I wonder if that "problem" just isn't an issue for most users. Thus, I prefer Apple's strategy of a thinner phone, even if keeping battery capacity constant.

 

[mixel]

"Does not have a strong rumor track record" Hahahaha. You don't say?

The Daily Mail doesn't have a strong reality record. They have no grasp whatsoever on anything real and current, so I wouldn't believe them when it comes to secret experimental future-tech.

..

And I think I'd have to wait quite a while before I'd be happy with a whole new battery technology considering it's only random chance that prevented a Macbook battery from setting fire to my house and/or killing family members.

(.. Just insulted the Mail for their hyperbolic nonsense.. Continues to post what no doubt looks like hyperbolic nonsense.)

 

[TallManNY]

I'm not sure if you are serious or not.

I'm the first to object to seriously questionable alternative enegry solutions like massive fields of solar arrays. However I think you have a few things wrong here. First it is very American to innovate when it comes to energy production and usage. For example the U.S. had energy efficiency standards for electric motors well before the rest of the world.



I really hope you are just being a pain in the posterior today. The negativity associated with the petroleum industry may be massively over stated but that still doesn't mean alternatives aren't worth pursuing. What we need these days is a rational energy policy as the current policies do more harm than good.

Why do you object to massive fields of solar arrays? I can think of a few negative aspects and limitations to the technology, but the net positives outweigh the negatives.

 

[carlgo]

This will only happen if Apple can radically increase the energy density of fuel cells. Elon Musk calls them 'fool cells' for a reason. Also, no electronics use fuel cells for power for a reason.

This is true. Batteries are just cleaner and generally better. Fuel cells can be refueled from lighter fluid cans or other containers and so could be used where there is no electrical power. Hydrogen gas, another gases can work, but aren't necessary. Apple would choose a safe liquid and it would come in a stylish dispenser!

Everyone wants magic batteries and capacitors but so far...just around the corner as they have been forever. That is why Tesla is sticking with tried and true battery technology and just working on making them more affordable and with incremental increases in performance over time.

If there is a magic battery, Tesla would use it and if something materializes, they will make them in one of their upcoming $5 billion dollar battery factories. Apple could be an investor in something like this.

 

[squirrrl]

I dunno, graphene is pretty cool. We might end up with faster microchips out of that technology.

I'm just hoping for super-thin graphene condoms.

 

[pankajdoharey]

Nothing but ********

Who will replace the fuel for the "Fuel Cells" ? Assuming it is running on sugar or biogas or what not.... Daily Mail is a stupid news agency and thats that.