People would like better batteries but they are wary of making investments. What is required is both a technology push and a market pull.

Sadoway is pointing to a classic “valley of death” in energy innovation: society wants better, cheaper, safer batteries, but private actors hesitate to fund scale-up when the path to profit is uncertain. “Technology push” refers to advances from research—new chemistries, materials, and manufacturing methods—while “market pull” refers to demand-side forces that make adoption economically rational (e.g., procurement commitments, standards, subsidies, carbon pricing, or grid-storage mandates). The quote argues that breakthroughs alone are insufficient; commercialization requires aligned incentives and risk-sharing so that investment follows invention.