Perhaps the predicted demise of the electric car has been a bit exaggerated, particularly after new technology unveiled this week by EEStor, a once secretive startup company based in Texas.

The company"s wonderful goal: Replacing the electrochemical battery in virtually every application from fully electric cars and hybrids to laptop computers with a battery-ultracapacitor hybrid based on barium-titanate powders. Patent documents submitted by EEStor also claim this Electrical Energy Storage Unit (EESU) not only will outperform the best lithium-ion batteries, but contain up to 10 times the juice of conventional lead-acid batteries that can be produced at half the cost and without the need for toxic chemicals.

You"ll likely see the new battery in action later this year in models of electric cars made by Canada-based ZENN Motor. Early estimates have calculated cars powered by the EESU can travel as far as 500 miles on a $9 charge of electricity.

The only drawback to the battery-ultracapacitor hybrid, unfortunately, is energy storage. The newer model stores about 25 times less energy per pound than the lithium battery.