Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't molten-salt technology using concentrated solar power a serious entry into the grid-scale power-generation/energy-storage sweepstakes? First, it would seem that this system would be quite simple/low-tech, not even requiring photovoltaics (currently set back by high polysilicon prices) and that such power plants could run 24/7, provided they were placed in relatively sunny areas.

Interesting how our society is all-of-a-sudden doing a bum's rush into renewables (which is mostly a positive), not really understanding the relative high-cost/technical problems of lithium-ion batteries (as you point out). Many do not understand the problem of renewable "intermittency", or the high cost of solving it, and yet many of us are ready to buy EVs (which ironically are a type of partial energy storage solution). I guess we'll "buy now, figure out the details later"? I suppose when Henry Ford began mass-producing internal combustion engines in 1913, the details were not worked out either.

Many grid-scale issues need to be worked out before we electrify everything (More HVDC lines will help, along with hydrogen-conversion and better EV batteries). Otherwise, some EVs in the near-term will be charged by coal or gas-fired plants. The big question is whether renewables/storage can come online fast enough to meet our climate-change goals, or whether we'll need things like next-generation nuclear or natural gas/CCS/blue hydrogen to help us make the transition.