electric car documentary on abc now, page-11

Lithium is the most important element for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

There are a few different Lithium ion battery chemistries using various rare earths, cobalt etc as the cathode and anode. The Toyota Prius uses a Nickel Metal Hydride and regular cars (and previous generations of EVs) use lead acid batteries (copper being the cathode).

Hydrogen fuel cells use platinum as the catalyst (and has been substituted with palladium).