I guess....when I heard the guy being interviewed, I thought the same thing....maybe they'd go through so much LithiumION or NiMH they figured there'd be too much in getting it recycled.
Dargh! I got confused. They are ALSO making air powered engines for fork lifts, they didn't get the idea from it. Sorry, saw it was a while ago. Here's the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4