Trying to decide on how, when and even if LENR research will emerge into the market is difficult. One of the key problems I suspect is that we are uncertain as to what 'shape' market-ready cold fusion might take. Will it be suited to a centralised grid-delivered financial model, or will it end up as a distributed system where heat/electricity is produced at the point of use and the means of production owned by the users? Away from this forum JedRothwell has emailed on this in the context of the US and an affluent US tropical island. But there is much more to the world than America.
For example, my wife and I do around 350-400 total miles a week in 2 cars - mostly driving to work in my case and to care for her horse and supermarket visits in hers. Because of heavy traffic, gasoline taxes and the constant roadworks the UK specialises in this uses around 12 USg/week, say 50 USg/month costing us $450/month, $5.5k/year. And UK gasoline is not Europe's most expensive. We also spend around $2k/year on gas heating and $1k on electricity - which is not remarkable for a modest detached house here in the UK, even a reasonably well insulated one- with electricity costs running as high as $0.25c per kW/h and gas at US10c/kWh. So for gasoline and electricity we fork out $8500/year. Big difference I suspect!
So like many others in Europe (forget Brexit!) I can see the benefits of change and of cold fusion cars and heat. But the development model I would like to see (and I work on) is not initially a European one, has nothing to do with cars, and co-incidentally is a model Russ George and I had been independently pondering for years. I first wrote a paper on this topic for private circulation some 15 years ago.
Our objective is the 'LENR Lamp'. something like a big compact fluorescent light bulb that costs a few dollars and produces a few hundred watts of heat from a very small amount of electricity. Maybe it could be engineered to last for decades too. Sold initially in places where there is no grid - hence few sunk costs requiring recovery - it would be life-transforming in the developing world, ending the constant daily search for cooking fuel and clean water. Since it would enable the pasteurisation (at least) of surface water collected for drinking. All this reduces emissions and chronic respiratory disease and early death (from smoky homes). Add a few LEDs and you also end the need for kerosene lamps and the problems and emissions they cause. And if every blade of grass is not burnt for fuel it will re-green a lot of land and bring back insects and a suitable environment for people to keep (for example) chickens.
To enable this to happen with less blow-back - assuming we can crack the engineering problems - we need to see these systems initially built in the developing world too, so that that members of the economy displaced by LENR energy (the 'by the half-pint' kerosene sellers and firewood collectors for example) can be re-trained and re-employed in completely new trades. Saving the planet and making a living on the side sounds like an ideal combination.
The rest of the world will soon catch up. What do you think the future looks like ???