The direct method, which could be available commercially in five or six years, would use different, lighter stacks of plates that eliminate the need for a reformer. Thus, the proposed next generation of fuel cells could be smaller, lighter and more adaptable. Marsh envisions fuel cells in lawn mowers, snow-blowers, jet skis and other mobile devices which now contribute to noise and air pollution, and which don't run well on batteries. A lap-top computer, for instance, could work much longer on a tiny fuel cell than on rechargeable batteries. Marsh is licensing the patent for a direct-methanol fuel cell developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Interest is keen.
Among automakers, DaimlerChrysler and Ford, working with Ballard, have aggressive programs to introduce fuel-cell cars in showrooms by 2004. Daimler and others have been doing their own research on direct methanol fuel cells, as have major oil companies. Cars with methanol fuel cells would do little to change the regular routine of consumers at the filling station. A driver would simply stop at a pump and fill up with methanol rather than gasoline. More skeptical is Gail Jagels, who fills up her green Ford Windstar at a service station in nearby La Canada.