The only way car companies are going to create EV vehicles with a price point of $25/30K is to have a battery that costs $2K instead of $16K inside it. The move away from lithium is inevitable, the cost is too much.
Making solid-state EV batteries without the rare and expensive lithium could become reality as Japanese scientists discover a viable alternative using magnesium ions. Magnesium is cheap and abundant and the long struggle to improve its conductivity in solids has finally overcome the material's shortcomings.