I think its not as bad as you make it out to be. Any battery that will be used in flight might have nickel in it but that's about the only thing that's problema

I think its not as bad as you make it out to be. Any battery that will be used in flight might have nickel in it but that's about the only thing that's problematic. The anode will likely be silicon. Pretty much all battery research is targeting materials that are common. The DoD made a large bet on Lithium-Sulfer batteries. Battery recycling can be energy intensive if you go for the full metallurgical extraction. But pretty much all car manufacturing plants want to just 'disassemble' the battery and use other far less energy intensive processes to get battery grade materials out. Also, at least in the west, these factories are generally located in location where there is cheap green energy or at least there is the potential. That is both Tesla/Panasonic and Northvolt (Europe) plan. With batteries you can reload the battery from your gravitational energy. That is actually quite a significant range extender but it might be a regulatory issue.