With the possible cost benefit of zinc, I see no other benefit of zinc based energy storage. It's larger in size and life span doesn't compare. Zinc has a less dense energy structure.
So are you willing to trade less of everything to replace a combustible battery for a corrosive battery.
There are a lot of promising technologies being developed. I'm sure there will be alternatives to lithium. The question is time frame. Most battery facilities being built are designed to build lithium based batteries. The world focus today is mining more lithium. Lithium will dominate in the near term. The future ?????