Check out this answer from Consensus:

High-performance, low-cost batteries without using rare earth metals are indeed possible. Sodium-ion and potassium-ion batteries with alloy-based anodes, magnesium-ion batteries with optimized MgFexMn2-xO4 cathodes, and lithium-sulfur batteries with metal carbide nanocrystals are all promising alternatives. These technologies leverage abundant and inexpensive materials, offering viable solutions for large-scale energy storage systems.

The quest for high-performance, low-cost batteries without relying on rare earth metals is a significant focus in the field of energy storage. This is driven by the need for sustainable and economically viable solutions for large-scale energy storage systems, such as grid systems and renewable energy sources. Researchers are exploring various alternatives, including sodium-ion, potassium-ion, magnesium-ion, and lithium-sulfur batteries, which utilize more abundant and less expensive materials.

Key Insights

• Sodium-Ion Batteries (SIBs) with Iron and Manganese Cathodes:

  • Sodium-ion batteries using iron and manganese-based cathodes are promising due to the natural abundance and low cost of these metals. These materials offer satisfactory electrochemical performance and high reliability, making them suitable for large-scale energy storage systems1.

• Alloy-Based Anodes for Sodium-Ion and Potassium-Ion Batteries:

  • Alloy-based anodes, including those made from Sn, Sb, Ge, Bi, Si, P, and their compounds, show high capacity and suitable working potential for sodium-ion and potassium-ion batteries. These materials are recognized as attractive alternatives for next-generation battery systems due to their earth abundance and potential for high energy density2.

• Magnesium-Ion Batteries with MgFexMn2-xO4 Cathodes:

  • Magnesium-ion batteries using MgFexMn2-xO4 cathodes demonstrate high safety, low cost, and good electrochemical performance. The optimized composition of these materials provides excellent cycling stability and rate capability, making them viable for large-scale energy storage applications3.

• Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) Batteries with Metal Carbide Nanocrystals:

  • Lithium-sulfur batteries utilizing metal carbide nanoparticles on carbon nanofibers exhibit high specific capacity, excellent rate performance, and long cycling stability. These materials offer a low-cost alternative with high theoretical energy densities, suitable for next-generation energy storage systems4.

• Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) Batteries with Rare Earth Oxides:

  • The addition of rare earth oxides to NiMH batteries significantly improves performance, particularly in high-temperature applications. However, this approach relies on rare earth metals, which are not the focus of low-cost, high-performance battery development without rare earth elements5.

Are high performance, low cost batteries possible without using rare earth metals?

Toon Verstraelen has answered Likely An expert from Ghent University in Theoretical Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science

With some of the current renewable energy technologies, you are indeed right that we would need an unearthly supply of certain precious (heavy) elements to completely replace our conventional energy production. That said, technologies evolve and are replaced over time by radically different approaches, such that some of the mentioned limitations may be lifted if future. For that reason, it is hard to make any assertions on long-term demands of raw materials, and hence my optimism.

Specifically for batteries, more research is required to arrive at a commercially viable battery technology that only uses abundant materials, and it is too early to exclude the possibility. The following recent publication (of an old idea) shows that durable batteries with high power densities (not yet high energy densities) can be reached with rather mundane materials: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00295. [Muralidharan, N.; Westover, A. S.; Sun, H.; Galioto, N.; Carter, R. E.; Cohn, A. P.; Oakes, L.; Pint, C. L. From the Junkyard to the Power Grid: Ambient Processing of Scrap Metals into Nanostructured Electrodes for Ultrafast Rechargeable Batteries. ACS Energy Letters 2016, 1 (5), 1034–1041.] Furthermore, one should keep in mind that efficient energy storage may be achieved with other devices than batteries, e.g. new generations of ultra-capacitors, which could also alter the anticipated excessive demand of certain raw materials.