High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The lithium-air battery, Li-air for short, is a metal-air battery chemistry that uses the oxidation of lithium at the anode and reduction of oxygen at the cathode to induce a current flow. Originally proposed in the 1970s as a possible power source for electric vehicles, Li-air batteries recaptured scientific interest in the late 2000s due to advances in materials technology and an increasing demand for environmentally safe and oil-independent energy sources.