Voller Energy has been developing and selling portable fuel cell systems based on metal hydride canisters since 2002. The first product, the VE100 v1, was officially launched at the Grove Fuel Cell Event in London in October 2003.

In the real world nobody actually wants to use a fuel cell. What people actually want is portable power, they want charged batteries and they want to watch TV ! The VE100 portable fuel cell system allows people to do all those things wherever they are. As the system produces no toxic emissions the system can be used indoors or in a confined space. On the front is a common mains power plug just like you would see on a standard wall socket. We also add a cigar lighter type output that you would see in most cars. As the wall socket plugs and voltages vary from country to country we have different units for different countries.

In November 2004 we produced the third generation of our VE100 product, and the second commercial version, the VE100 v2. This was followed by the VE100 v3 in May 2005.

A significant innovation in this product was how we interface to the real world. Fuel cells don't like change they like a constant output. Human beings (the real world) likes to switch electrical appliances on and off at will, constantly varying electrical loads. Also fuel cells don't start instantly, since it takes time for gases to flow over the fuel cell plates and for the chemical reactions to begin. Imagine turning on the TV, but having to wait 2 minutes for electricity to be available.

Batteries by contrast are low-cost items that are good at handling variable loads. So to provide instant start up, our systems contain a powerful rechargeable battery. This means your TV turns on instantly. However, what also happen is the fuel cell inside gets up to speed and constantly recharges the battery. This means as long as you provide fuel to the fuel cell you will have quiet clean electricity to watch the TV.

That is of course if your fuel cell will allow you to turn your TV on. Modern television sets are efficient devices, probably using about 60 watts of electrical output about the same as a typical light bulb. However when you first turn a TV on, you often hear a ‘dumph' noise. This is because for a fraction of a second the system needs about 2,000 watts (or 2 kW). This means to turn a TV on, you would need a 2 kW fuel cell. However, by including a battery and capacitor in our design we can actually turn on a TV using a much smaller fuel cell. This reduces the cost, size and weight and means your fuel will last much longer.

The latest version of the VE100 platform is the Fuel Cell ABC.