The days are numbered for the old internal combustion engine, that runs off petrol. Today we’re working towards adopting a new fuel that is renewable and bountiful. That fuel is methanol.

Efoy have developed a range of fuel cells for the environmentally concious market. They’re relatively light, portable and accessible to anyone willing to fork out $3500 Australian Dollars (minimum) over at Neco. Unfortunately, for the purpose of this article, I was unable to obtain an Efoy fuel cell for testing, but that doesn’t stop me from shedding a bit of light on this powerful new technology.

What the Efoy Fuel Cell Does

This brand of fuel cell doesn’t use the traditional hydrogen fuel as a source of power but methanol, a by-product in the production of ethanol. This means sugar cane farmers and sugar companies across the world will be the new OPEC for this type of fuel cell.

Basically, the fuel cell generates power and charges batteries located within the system. This provides stable power on demand.

No Need to Worry About Hydrogen

If you’re concerned about taking a tank of volatile hydrogen with you, you can probably feel a bit safer with the Efoy fuel cell technology. Since you’ll just be taking a bottle or two of methanol, you don’t have to worry about it any more than you do with petrol. That said, methanol does scare me in some regards.

Taking the Efoy Fuel Cell, Camping?

As a self confessed internet addict, this would be a perfect accomplice for taking camping. You could bring your laptop along with you on a trip and

Plane Trips / Cafe Visits Efoy Fuel Cell, Style

Unfortunately, this is not one of those things you can take with you down to the local cafe to power your laptop. Fuel cells are still, much too large for every-day practical use, despite recent advancements (namely Toshiba’s smallest fuel cell). Realistically, you’re not going to cart around an 8kg package and methanol containers to match.

Let’s not even talk about the practicality of taking this through an airport terminal! After liquids have been banned, they’re certainly not going to let you aboard with 10 liters of methanol.

Who Needs an Efoy Fuel Cell?

If anyone needs one of these cells, it would have to be the outdoor tourism business. If you’re needing to power a computer, lighting setup, communications system or any other electrical component that chews through serious power, one of these Fuel Cells is for you.

Next on the list would be people using mobile homes. Stick one of these babies in your caravan and you’ll be powered on methanol for days. Combine that with solar power and you have a pretty solid system in place.

Where to Find the Efoy Fuel Cell?

Efoy has a website which you can browse around here. Although, if you’re looking to purchase one of these, you should take a look at neco. Neco is one of my favourite eco-super stores.