Hitomi Murakami, v.p. at Japan's second largest telecoms firm KDDI (Tokyo), told delegates at the meeting that following a collaboration with Toshiba and Hitachi initiated in 2004 that it expects to roll out an external direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) charging unit, fuelled with methanol, for cell phones in Japan in 2007. 

KDDI says it plans to begin offering its customers cell phones with an integrated DMFC power unit later next year. 

Fuel cells will provide twice the amount of power delivered currently by batteries, Murakami says. 

Meanwhile, telecoms firm Vodaphone (Newbury, U.K.) says it will not be offering its customers fuel cell-powered phones in the U.K. until the power units are designed to be smaller and deliver power for longer. 

There is a gap opening up between the amount of energy required to run ever more energy-consuming cell phones, experts say. 

The 7%/year improvement in efficiency of new lithium-based batteries is insufficient to close the gap on the increasing energy demand of portable electronic devices alone, says PolyFuel CEO Jim Balcom. 

PolyFuel has developed a hydrocarbon-based membrane for DMFCs, which it says is being tested by many of the leading developers of fuel cells. 

Polyfuel announced recently that it has entered into a non-exclusive agreement to supply Johnson Matthey with its membranes for the manufacture of catalyst coated membranes and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), which transform fuel into electricity.