Swedish startup wants to keep your devices charged using hydrogen cartridges

MyFC is the name of a startup company based in Sweden, maker of “Jaq”, a new kind of mobile charger.

This portable battery does not use wall outlets to recharge, instead it uses 10 hydrogen fuel cells that create a chemical reaction when a sealed cartridge containing a solution of water and salt is inserted into the unit. The resulting reaction produces 1,800mAh of electricity, which will recharge an iPhone 6S or Samsung Galaxy S6 almost completely, via USB.

Jaq is currently only available in Sweden, however MyFC is planning on launching the new charger in Dubai, within the next few months, and in the US and China sometime this year.

If MyFC manages to reach worldwide adoption of Jaq, the company has plans to make deals with mobile carriers to create affordable subscription services for consumers to obtain a steady supply of cartridges, for a price the company envisions as low as $5 per month. The pricing mobile, which isn’t set in stone yet, could be tacked on the phone bill.

While $5 per month may seem like an incredible deal, considering that the average mobile user is likely to go through at least two cartridges per day, depending on usage, or an average of 45-50 cartridges per month, one of the requirements for this product to succeed is the ability of the company to keep the cost of cartridges as low as possible, to compete with the average cost of recharging devices through a regular power grid.

Previous attempts

This is not the first time we hear about a company considering, or attempting, to build a portable battery that uses hydrogen fuel cells instead of the power grid. In March of last year, we learned about a patent filed by Apple, describing a method to power devices as big as the 12 inch MacBook Retina, using hydrogen fuel cells.

In August, a British technology company called Intelligent Energy, has created a prototype hydrogen fuel cell embedded inside an iPhone, however the company has not made significant strides past that prototype so far, and it seems that MyFC is beating to the punch its competitors, with a first viable commercial application.

MyFC is planning to make the cartridges for its new hydrogen charger, 100% recyclable by 2017. This will be an important milestone to confirm the viability of the new device, and one that might make or break the success of a product that, unless capable of being 100% recyclable, could turn into an environmental hazard, considering that these cartridges don’t seem to be designed in a way that allows for refills.