Super-powered battery breakthrough claimed by US team

[FBaggins]

6. You're absolutely right.

Most technological advances suffer from the same concerns in their research stages. Back in the days of vacuum tubes (not so many decades ago) nobody would have thought that we would be able to mass-produce processors on a 10 nm scale and sell hundreds of millions of them... but we will in just a few years.

The science comes first - commercial viability is down the road (perhaps with an entirely different model). As you imply, the science has value even if it doesn't pan out. If nothing else it points others in the right direction (or away from one of many wrong ones)

High capacity to weight combined with rapid charge/discharge is the holy grail of storage. It could change almost everything. If they can get it to work, people will eventually find a way to make it profitable.