I can see the Toyota people looking for alternatives to REE’s mostly because of the scare they recently got from a Chinese threatened hoarding of those elements at a time when Japan was entirely dependant on Chinese exports. After all, a business has to be able to function independant of what a competing country does with its internal regulations.

Having said that, REE’s are being sought by miners all over the world at present, and even though they are called “rare earths” they are actually far from rare. The world market will open up in the coming few years and China will no longer have its monopoly in the sector.

I agree with Dr. Hykaway’s opinion that one would have to make an entirely new business case to eliminate lithium’s potential in the auto sector. The competitive advantages of lithium as a storage medium are too great, and the race to secure uninterrupted supplies is in full swing.
http://retirefund.blogspot.com/2011/02/commodity-of-21st-century-m-in-lithium.html