Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York have come up with a new type of battery that could revolutionize the field of electrical transport. The battery is made out of cellulose with a coating of lithium and carbon tubes the size of a virus. Essentially, it is a sheet of black paper that can store an electrical charge.

Now, what does this mean for electric cars and bikes? Well, to start with, the batteries can function in a temperature range of -73 degrees to 148 degrees Celsius (about -99 to 298 degrees Fahrenheit). This means that temperature effectively ceases to be any barrier to the operation of an electric vehicle or appliance.

To top off the functionality, it makes for interesting ideas in automobile design. If the batteries are built into the frame of the car, rather than taking up the trunk or the area traditionally occupied by the engine, it could lead to much larger car interiors, increased passenger capacity of smaller cars, and a number of other useful developments in car design.

This technology can be used in everything from car starters to medical implants, and would be an excellent replacement for the metal and acid batteries we commonly use today in many applications. Unfortunately, with cost as a barrier to development of these batteries, we’ll likely see them used in space before they get put into our cars. However, with economies of scale, they can eventually become quite affordable.

It might be something for the future, but at the rate technology moves, the future might be closer than we think!