I am of the opinion that hydrogen will compliment batteries rather than compete with it. Batteries are getting better all the time. Arguably they are good enough now for the average motorist and except for price, good enough for domestic storage. There is so much research and development going into batteries that I expect over the next few years those two needs mentioned will be completely solved. Cars with ranges of 800kms and home storage that is genuinely afforable.
However, in the area of industrial storage and heavy use, I think batteries will take much longer to get there. This is where hydrogen fits in. It can be piped as ammonia so the transport solution is already solved. It can be stored in large amounts wherever it is needed so can be used for distributed power generation. It is suitable for trucks because of their large physical size etc.
I still think we will end up with large storages whether they be in flow battery form, molten salt and/or pumped hydro/gravity but these options are stationary only. Lithium is great for something that needs to be small, flexible and mobile. I believe hydrogen will fill the gap between those mediums, particularly in the interim.
