Charging ahead: The promise of fuel-cell technology has conjured visions of cars powered by hydrogen. This promise also offers the ability to "recharge" batteries in your gadgets without a power point. Toshiba is bringing this part of the dream to life with its new Dynario, a methanol fuel-cell recharger for gadgets. The palm-size generator is loaded with methanol via a specialist cartridge. Once fueled, the Dynario immediately starts generating electricity, which is fed into a lithium-ion battery for storage. The device is connected to a gadget, such as a mobile phone or digital media player, via a USB cable and recharges the gadget. Each shot of methanol empowers the Dynario to recharge the equivalent of two average mobile phones.
Innovation did not extend to the design of this device, which looks like a throwback to the age of transistor radios. The unit measures 150 × 74.5 ×21 mm and weighs 280 grams. The Dynario is small enough to be portable but it's not going to squeeze into the pocket of your jeans.
It has a fuel tank capacity of 14 ml, which means that combined with the fuel cartridges, each storing 50 ml of ethanol, users will get 3 1/2 refuels out of each cartridge. While the cartridges weigh just 92 grams each they are not much smaller than the Dynario itself. Toshiba has put the generator on sale at ¥29,800, with the cartridges costing ¥3,150 for a pack of five.