A recent blog post lampooned the fact that the International Energy Agency has under-estimated the growth of solar energy in every single one of their predictions from 1994 to 2016.
In the electric vehicle world, in September 2017 Tesla sold more cars in the U.S. than Mitsubishi, Volvo, or Porsche (not including trucks/SUVs)(source).
In both cases, while economics, policy, and regulation, have been important factors, something else less precise and harder to predict has driven adoption of these technologies beyond expectations -- customer preference.
Electric vehicles and solar panels are visible and cool-looking. In the case of solar panels, even those who can't purchase their own (renters, for example) have made their preference known, resulting in higher rate of adoption by utilities, businesses, and municipalities.
Will this same factor drive adoption of stationary battery energy storage systems (BESS), which aren't visible or cool-looking? Is consumer preference for BESS enough to drive adoption faster than what economics, policy, and regulation would predict?
Rather than speculation, I'm interested in what the research/analysis/industry says about this.