the obvious solution is compressed air and water mist...compressed air by itself has the inherent weakness that it heats up but if you introduce a fine water mist then you capitalize on its ability to absorb heat...
the less efficient version with air only was made in india in 2008 it has a range of 125miles and a refill costs you 2$ (compressor at home) in electric power the refill takes 4h
as for lithium:
Pollution Caused By Building a Hybrid Car - HowStuffWorks
In recent years, rare earth metals like lithium have been imported almost exclusively from China, which was able to lower its prices enough to monopolize the industry [source: Strickland]. One of the reasons China could sell lithium so cheaply was because it widely ignored environmental safeguards during the mining process. In the Bayan Obo region of China, for example, miners removed topsoil and extracted the gold-flecked metals using acids that entered the groundwater, destroying nearby agricultural land.