The UK company Intelligent Energy purchased the portable fuel cell and disposable fuel cartridge assets of Société Bic, a maker of disposable consumer products. Intelligent Energy paid $13 million and will pay $2 million more once transition services are completed.
The acquisition moves the company forward toward the mass-market availability of embedded hydrogen fuel cell technology to power applications and consumer electronic devices such as PCs, laptops, smartphones and wearables.
Intelligent Energy says as people continue to embrace ubiquitous wireless technology and as data consumption increases, it will be necessary to remove dependence on the plug socket. The company has a vision for universal wireless power via hydrogen fuel cell technology.
BIC’s embedded fuel cell technology provides the company with additional intellectual property assets added to its existing hydrogen fuel cell power systems for the global automotive, consumer electronics, distributed power and generation markets.
Last summer, Apple was rumored to be working with Intelligent Energy to introduce fuel cell technology into future mobile devices.
