Concrete may have found it's killer app in graphene. The ultra-strong, ultra-thin material will soon be used for making some of the world's most durable and incredibly light cars. The first company to try it will be the Ford Motor Company, based in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford will use graphene in the company's future eco-friendly Fusion Hybrid, launching this autumn. With properties that may come as a surprise, graphene can "absorb light and stiffen," or "absorb heat and spread it, and it can act as a thermal conductor," says Dr. Ramnath Chellappa, the director of the Institute for Materials Research at University of Texas at Austin. The material is also lightweight and relatively strong. Graphene is a single layer of graphite, meaning it is the smallest possible known sheet of crystals for making a substance. You may recognize graphite as the soft grey substance in pencil lead and used as a lubricant additive. It also made its first appearance in the late 1990s in the form of a single sheet of carbon atoms. By 2001, two groups of researchers in America and England produced and confirmed the existence of single-layer graphene. Since then, the material has been used in touch-screen technologies as well as in a variety of other products. One of the largest uses of graphene will be in the automobile industry. "In fact, I feel that by 2020, we'll see a lot of cars and a lot of industries that will switch over to be made of graphene," Chellappa says. Graphene may not be visible to the eye, but the strength it provides is something car designers are looking forward to. "For sure graphene will be used for the structural parts of the body of the car. I think that, given the performance [of graphene], it has a very good potential in body-in-white," says Dr. Willem Veerman, manager of energy research and development at Ford Motor Company. Ford uses about 40 percent composites in its cars and trucks today, according to Veerman. But the company has big plans for graphene-based automobiles in the future. "We think that graphene will have an impact and we have a lot of interest in developing graphene into the future. We're looking at graphene for automobile applications. There's no reason to doubt that it's not very strong material." The car industry might have to wait for a while to find a killer app for graphene in the United States. In the United Kingdom, though, the single-layer carbon has already been used to make the light-but-strong wheels of a Formula One car. "The use of carbon fiber in Formula One race cars has been an issue for a long time, particularly the weight of the race car," said Dr. John White, professor and chair of the engineering department at University of Warwick. But he says graphene is a carbon fiber that's "as light as you want it." At this point, Chellappa says Ford's Fusion hybrid will be the first car to be made of graphene. The material, he says, will improve the car's fuel efficiency. The auto industry is watching for graphene, as well, because it may help the cars' batteries be even lighter and even more efficient. Ford's Chellappa is optimistic the graphene development will spread quickly. "We think by 2020 we will start seeing graphene in commercial products," he says. Dr. Veerman has a longer timeframe for that: "Within the next 10 years we will see products going into cars and I would assume in the next 20 years we will see all new materials and other materials than can be produced out of graphene-based materials." To hear more about graphene and how the material will impact the future of cars, tune in to CNN Radio Monday through Friday, 5 to 7 p.m. ET. soundoff(6 Responses) Billy Bob Not really new material. It has been around since graphite. Most know it as pencil lead. The problem is that graphite is unstable in it's 2D form. You can produce it by cooling down liquid nitrogen, but most of the time it's still messy. Only way to produce a sheet of the substance is if you can etch off a thin layer of the material and it forms a surface. However the etching process is quite difficult. You can't use a pencil. And what is it good for? Well the fact that it is strong and able to be produced in small quantities. July 14, 2013 at 8:45 pm | james it is graphite. and it was used in the manufacture of the pencil. July 15, 2013 at 7:00 am | Vincent S Is this a new article? There are materials already out there that have been produced. Graphite with other substances to make a conductive layer, for one example. What the material will not be able to be used for in making automobiles is to be able to put a windshield into the car that can handle a lot of impact without breaking. I wish someone who understands more about this new material would inform us about the ways we might use it. We can find much more uses for it in our lives than a car can use it. July 14, 2013 at 9:23 pm | Peter Naughton "What the material will not be able to be used for in making automobiles is to be able to put a windshield into the car that can handle a lot of impact without breaking." What kind of impact? What will the material do in that situation that another material will not? You need to give people more information before they say that this material won't have uses. July 15, 2013 at 3:59 am | Shelby Moxley No one thinks that the future of a car is in the windshield. July 14, 2013 at 5:30 pm | Bill I just looked up the word graphite, first came up was pencil lead.... I would love to see a windshield made of this stuff, seems like a great way to stop small objects before they hit a windshield. Anyone? July 14, 2013 at 5:40 pm | Hector And in these days of gas prices it would be a way to get more gas mileage. As for the windshield. I have a windshield made from a composite. It has no impact. I also know that it has to be designed that way. I am sorry the author of this article did not know that. July 14, 2013 at 6:23 pm | Peter Naughton "And in these days of gas prices it would be a way to get more gas mileage. As for the windshield. I have a windshield made from a composite. It has no impact. I also know that it has to be designed that way. I am sorry the author of this article did not know that." If you're in a car with windshields, and you drive into the object, you're going to lose the windshield. If you drive into the object at a different angle, then you would have to know the laws of physics to know what would happen. July 14, 2013 at 6:43 pm | Shelby Moxley It is not so much that I think I will never be in a vehicle that has a windshield as much as I would never want a windshield made out of anything stronger than glass. For what it is worth, I wish the same safety and performance from the windshield of a car that I do for my laptop screen. July 14, 2013 at 6:52 pm | Randy Keele Car manufacturer's are looking at graphene at the present time because research with other more normal materials is leading to higher failure rates than expected so these companies are looking for alternatives which graphene is one of the best so far discovered. July 14, 2013 at 4:13 pm | A.J.M. I'd like to hear about how graphene will impact the manufacture of batteries. I am really curious how the technology will advance battery technology in this present time. This may become essential in the next twenty years. July 14, 2013 at 4:05 pm | Tom Stover As I understood, the article was not meant to compare this particular material with any other, just to state that it was an unknown product. It is no more important than it is in "any other product." Just because one doesn't like one article doesn't mean one is being anti-technology. I have not found the article to be at all anti-technology, but instead a brief overview of a new material. It was interesting to see how one could describe how this article could benefit some, but it was also informative. If one doesn't like the material, fine. That doesn't make it wrong. And that is the problem with the article. At no time did this article state that this was the best material. Instead, it showed potential uses to make it more efficient, but there is nothing wrong with that. Why can't people appreciate