Bright Days Ahead for Fuel Cells Despite Another Market Casualty
By Pike Research
By Jevan Fox
Don’t try to go to hydrocarbon-based membrane developer PolyFuel’s web site. Google will warn you that visiting the site “may harm your computer!” Fitting, as the now-debunked fuel cell company is shutting down.
Just last spring, PolyFuel was awarded $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, which followed two previous DOE awards. The government’s funding of the company’s development program, along with VC money from Intel Capital, could not keep PolyFuel from ceasing operations, and now seeking a buyer of its assets.
PolyFuel was focused on hydrocarbon membrane technology, developed for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), rather than engineering complete systems. The majority of competing membranes in the sector are fluorocarbon membranes, and the hydrocarbon membrane was tested and showed signs it had half the amount of water flux and one third the methanol crossover as its counterpart. PolyFuel focused its engineering of membranes on the portable electronics industry, specifically laptops, 3G mobile phones, and their military equivalents.
In July 2008, the company announced their prototype power supply for the Lenovo T40 ThinkPad that can provide continuous runtimes with the hot swap of a methanol cartridge. Yet, the Mountain View-based PolyFuel, who was spun out of SRI International in 1999 with great fanfare, has decided to exit the game, as the fuel cell industry continues to struggle.
Yet, portable power fuel cells still have bright days ahead. According to Pike Research’s recent report on the subject, sub-20W fuel cells have significant advantages over conventional batteries, including their extended runtimes and use of clean, renewable fuels. As companies like Medis continue to sell fuel cells on Amazon, customer feedback will increase along with demand, and a displacement of current technology will occur between 2015 and 2017.
What happened to PolyFuel will happen to other companies in the space, as the technology seeks its best applications within the market, and it does not signal an end to the portable power fuel cell, yet illuminates the growing pains of an industry that seems forever young.
Reprinted with permission from Pike Research, a market research and consulting firm that provides in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets.
