A unified treatment of the mechanism of electrocatalysis of methanol oxidation on platinum and platinum-containing alloys is put forward. The effect of various alloys is shown to be interpretable within this overall model, and methods for the systematic improvement of the rate of electro-oxidation of methanol are described. Finally, some recent results for model direct methanol fuel cells are given, showing thar critical performance parameters for commercial exploitation are now achievable with modem catalytic formulations and cell designs.