UK Tech Firm Integrates Hydrogen Fuel Cell into iPhone for week-long charge

A tech company from the UK has developed a hydrogen fuel cell that is so compact they have been able to squeeze it into a slightly modified regular iPhone 6. The technological breakthrough can allow a smartphone to run for a week on a single “charge.”

Speaking to the Telegraph Henri Winand chief executive of Loughborough-based Intelligent Energy, commented “To our knowledge this has never been done before”

“We have now managed to make a fuel cell so thin we can fit it to the existing chassis without alterations and retaining the rechargeable battery. This is a major step because if you are moving to a new technology you have to give people a path they are comfortable with.”

Intelligent Energy’s prototype iPhone 6 contains a regular lithium-ion battery and also a hydrogen cell module that produces an electrical current by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. This processes causes the fuel cell  to produce a by-product consisting of a tiny amount of water and heat, so the iPhone had vents added to allow them to escape.

Intelligent Energy already sells a hydrogen battery device called called the Upp which is priced at $200. However like any other similarly bulky gadgets on the market, the whole system is external and just charges the device’s internal battery.

The  prototype iPhone can be “charged” with a hydrogen-releasing powder that is added via the a modified headphone jack. Looking toward the future the company hopes to integrate a separate slot for removable cartridges inside the device.

Intelligent Energy has hinted that it's waiting for its phone-manufacturing partner to turn the prototype into a commercial product – but they have refused to comment whether that partner is Apple Inc.

Source: rt.com