Fuel Cells

As far as I know there is no fuel cell development of a (m)ethanol fuel cell in the range 400 - 1000W. There is work being carried out on a 250W direct methanol system in Germany and there is work going on in the US on a reformed methanol system but again smaller I believe than you are looking for.

In the UK there is currently a development by Voller Energy of a reformed LPG system producing 650W but that will not become commercialised until late 2007. All mobile fuel cells are hybrid by nature, and in the 600W range they are not small, so you will not be able to remove the battery from the system just perhaps make it smaller.

I believe the cost would impractical..Even for a H2 fuel cell you start around 10k at 1kw...You might consider lithium, but again the cost is high...

For what they do ,fuel cells don't put out enough power to warrent the price. If the price comes down,and the output goes up then maybe they will be practical.

The fuel cell for the ENV is 1kW. Don't know how close they are to production.

Actually, I posted this before realizing that you are looking for a methanol fueled unit. But, who knows, you may find this interesting neverthleless.

Ask Japanese rail ways.