Image 1 of 3 from Mobion Fuel Cell GPS

We’ve been writing about the coming of micro fuel cell technology to replace current lithium ion and similar rechargeable battery systems in hand-held electronic devices for a long time now, with prototype devices from Toshiba and MTI Micro being the most prevalent. While it’s been a long time in coming to market, fuel cell technology will almost certainly eventually prevail, so the showing of an embedded fuel cell prototype handheld GPS device at the 10th Annual International Small Fuel Cells Conference on the weekend is significant. Based on direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology, MTI Micro’s Mobion power packs promise an increase in run time (time until a recharge is needed) of between two to ten times over the status quo of existing battery technologies.