I never liked lithium batteries anyways, because they spontaneously combust, seemingly without prior warning. This has been a problem ever since the damned things were introduced. The good news is batteries are not limited to lithium-cobalt. Far from it. So much so that this metal shortage scenario is a non issue. The ideal vehicle at this time is a hybrid. Leave the production decisions to the market place where they belong. As for power production, that is actually easy. You can burn anything you like with zero pollution if it is scrubbed properly. We have the technology for that already. Where we do have issues is in power distribution, storage, and peak demands. Off peak we have unused surplus electricity in massive quantities. The real trick we need to master is storing that off peak power for on peak demand. Currently we simply discard off peak power every night. That is the real primary issue at this time. A better battery will no doubt help the situation. Pumped storage power stations are our best bet with the current tech. The industry hesitates to build pumped storage stations because they are huge long term investments, whereas the rate of change in energy technology is much more rapid. There are legitimate concerns that investing such large commitments over the longer term can lead to serious financial losses should new technology render these stations no longer financially viable. They want guarantees. Meanwhile, the current level of hybrid vehicles already in operation has already cut automobile emissions dramatically. The green movement doesn't talk about that part because they want to maintain a sense of crisis. The so called "crisis" is already over. Industry has already transformed vehicle production to the point that soon it will be almost impossible to purchase a new fuel only vehicle. They are being phased out across the board. Every manufacturer. 20 years ago, electric vehicles were largely restricted to golf clubs and warehouses. Today they are everywhere. I'm actually the last person in my family who drives an all fuel vehicle. The bugs will be ironed out, as happens with every new technology. Remember when Windows used to crash all the time? For the end user, the ideal situation is to build your own power plant. This is certainly not a viable solution for everybody. What you want to have is the ability to create your own energy and use it to power your own vehicles and everything else. Reducing your grid dependence is how you free yourself from being held hostage by the centralized distributors.