A research group in Japan has been working on a new technology which will produce rechargeable batteries using sugar rather than conventional metals. The scientists are trying to replace the rare and expensive components of current rechargeable batteries, such as lithium, with more abundant and therefore cheaper materials.

The new batteries will actually be based around Sodium Ion technology, which means that they should be much cheaper to manufacture than current batteries (you can get sodium everywhere of course). The sugar, which needs to be super heated in an inert environment to produce the black carbon which is needed, provides a more efficient anode.

Like most of these research projects, don’t expect to see anything on the store shelves for at least another 5 years, but it’s still a sweet program, right? Sorry couldn’t resist.