We have developed a nature-inspired multifunctional composite material for applications in aircraft and automotive structures to realize the vision of efficient and sustainable vehicle designs. in particular, a hybrid composite termed as piezo- battery fiber reinforced composite (p-bfrc) comprising of piezoelectric and battery fibers is designed for the skin panels of aircraft wing, which are arranged in an optimized fashion. the wing p-bfrc structure aims to extract electrical energy from the structural vibrations using the piezoelectric panels and store it within the structure itself using battery panels. in addition, battery fiber reinforced composite (bfrc) panels are proposed for fuselage (aircraft body) skin, which upon charging from ground station, can act as gigantic structural battery. importantly, the proposed multifunctional structure is optimized such that the structural load bearing characteristics of the existing aircraft structure is not compromised. in other words, introducing such multifunctional material does not increase weight nor reduce the structural load carrying capability, while bringing in aircraft performance gains. the benefits of the proposed concept is demonstrated through two aircraft platforms, namely, a medium to large-sized fuel-driven aircraft and a small scale fully electrically powered aircraft. from the analyses performed in the current project, it has been shown that the proposed structure can facilitate the elimination of the secondary power systems, which leads to significant reduction in fuel consumption (5 % reduction), co2 emissions and weight. in the case of small scale electrically operated aircraft, it has been shown that the power capacity (engine capacity) can be increased by 50% by implementing the proposed concept, resulting in significant improvement of range/endurance of such electric aircrafts. with automotive and aerospace industries striving to design more efficient and environment-friendly vehicles, the proposed multifunctional composite system can very well be seen as a significant and viable technological step to realize the vision. while research efforts are in progress to implement and further develop electric power system architectures for aerospace vehicles, the demonstrated multifunctional composite material will help in taking a gigantic step towards achieving sustainable and efficient future electric vehicles. novel features of the innovation: a. an integrated multifunctional structure is developed with energy harvesting and storage capabilities incorporated within the load bearing structure. thus, in principle, the structure doubles up as energy harvester and storage device. hence, the structure can be envisaged as a stand-alone energy source for low to medium power electronic applications. b. optimal material/structure is designed, with maximized energy harvesting and storage characteristics, while simultaneously satisfying two critical requirements of any transportation vehicle structure, namely the load bearing properties (stiffness and strength) and weight. c. four novel design configurations were proposed with hybridization of the integrated composite material achieved at fiber level, lamina level, laminate level and structural level, each tailored for specific applications. d. innovation at individual material level is achieved, whereby the existing carbon fibers of aircraft structure were converted into energy storage fibers with suitable coating layers.