Production Fuel Cells in 2nd Half of 2006?

ExtremeTech reports that Antig Technology and AVC Corp. will be demoing production-ready fuel cell battery technology for laptops at CeBIT next week.

The fuel cells appear to be methanol-based and provide 45 watts of power, weigh 3.7 pounds and reportedly can power a laptop for eight hours with a single cartridge. The fuel cell is the size of a CD-Rom drive and is designed to fit into the media bay of a laptop PC. These fuel cells are reportedly going into production for late 2006. No details on cost or fuel refill information is yet available. A photo is shown here.

This is not the first time fuel cell technology has been promised. NEC was reportedly expecting them in to be production in 2004.

Back in 2003, Apple was rumored to be actively pursuing fuel cell technology for the PowerBook line. Fuel Cells promise long battery life but significant technical hurdles have limited their development.