You have that tech in every car - electric cigar lighter
Any thin metal will do just fine. In the army I've been using an ordinary paper clip over a D cell-like rechargeable battery (procured from the tank commander's radio communicator) to light up my cigarette every other hour for at least 2 years in a row
But in my EDC kit (see the recent thread about the survival belt) I have a dedicated nichrome wire piece (about 1', 150-200 ga., almost invisible piece of gear), which can light up as many fires as you have energy in any of your batteries, solar panels, or any other sources of electricity. It's long enough to be used even in the 110V outlet without burning off as that gum foil (there is a certain lifespan in it indeed, but a very long one, if you know how to even the wear). Also, you can use it to improvise a voltage divider (to get proper charging voltage, i.e. 5V, from any other DC voltage, i.e. 12V), a potentiometer for electronics improvisation, boil water with it (with enough electricity), use it as a space heater element (in a small space, or even over a body part). Its resistance to heat allows to use it as a friction saw on many materials as well, I'm yet to try using it with some tinder to see if I could make a fire just from that friction, without electricity at all.
Keep in mind, that with the foil the trick is to prepare a proper "sand clock" shape, so the ignition of the paper cover is controllable (starts on the narrow length, not under your fingers). With the bare wire, just make a little handle after the contact point on one end, so you can hold it by that colder piece shorting the circuit long enough to ignite your tinder (but make it quick so not to blow the battery). By the way, when watching survival shows/movies, I can't refrain from laughing at people deligently procuring sparks from their car battery for like an hour to ignite a piece of tinder with them