[pyrale]

> Why not? There is a worldwide and increasing demand for them.

That demand is created by the variations in prices created by renewables, which are themselves subsidized. In a world with coal, gas, nuclear or hydro, there simply is not enough demand to develop batteries.

So, in a world with no subsidies, how do you pay for batteries, not good ones but bad ones for decades until the industry ramps up? It simply doesn't happen.

It's not an indictment either. Subsidies are simply the way heavy industrial investments work, and in the electricity sector investments are so massive that without subsidy, barely anything happens.

[lukan]

"So, in a world with no subsidies, how do you pay for batteries, not good ones but bad ones for decades until the industry ramps up? "

A world completely without subsidies would indeed work different, but still would have demand for batteries.