Batteries keep getting cheaper, even when the metals inside them do not. According to BloombergNEF’s 2025 Lithium-Ion Battery Price Survey, the volume-weighted average price of a lithium-ion pack fell to $108 per kWh, an 8% drop compared with the year before.
The key numbers
- $108/kWh – average pack price across all uses
- $81/kWh – average for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) packs
- $99/kWh – battery-electric car packs, the cheapest transport segment
- $70/kWh – stationary storage packs, 45% lower than a year earlier
- $36/kWh – lowest LFP cell price BNEF found; the lowest LFP pack came in at $50/kWh
BNEF points to three drivers: cell manufacturing overcapacity, fierce competition, and the continuing shift to cheaper LFP chemistry. For 2026 it expects a further, smaller decline of about 3%, to just under $105/kWh.
Why your e-bike battery still costs more
Those figures are for packs bought by carmakers and grid operators by the gigawatt-hour. A 500 Wh e-bike battery has a housing, a BMS, connectors, certification and a retail chain on top, so it will never cost $50. But cheaper cells push the whole market down, and they make larger DIY packs far more affordable than they were just three years ago.
What it means for solar mobility
Cheap storage changes the maths for solar vehicles. A bigger buffer lets you collect every watt the panels deliver during the day and ride long after sunset. Builds like the Solarcamper with its 72 V LiFePO4 pack, or touring trikes such as the Solatrike II, show what becomes possible when a few kilowatt-hours are no longer a luxury.
Sources: BloombergNEF · Energy-Storage.news · ESS News
Photo (CATL battery plant in Arnstadt, Germany): Giorno2 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
