FOTW #1354, August 5, 2024: Electric Vehicle Battery Pack Costs for a Light-Duty Vehicle in 2023 Are 90% Lower than in 2008, according to DOE Estimates

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Vehicle Technologies Office estimates the cost of a electric vehicle lithium-ion battery pack for a light-duty vehicle declined 90% between 2008 and 2023 (using 2023 constant dollars).

Vehicle Technologies Office

August 5, 2024
minute read time

Subscribe to Fact of the Week

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Vehicle Technologies Office estimates the cost of a electric vehicle lithium-ion battery pack for a light-duty vehicle declined 90% between 2008 and 2023 (using 2023 constant dollars). The 2023 estimate is $139/kWh on a usable-energy basis for production at scale of at least 100,000 units per year. That compares to $1,415/kWh in 2008. The decline in cost is due to improvements in battery technologies and chemistries, as well as improvements in manufacturing and increases in production volume. 

Estimated Electric Vehicle Lithium-ion Battery Pack Cost, 2008-2023

Note: Cost refers to usable energy and not rated energy.

Sources: 2018–2023 – U.S. DOE, Vehicle Technologies Office, using Argonne National Laboratory’s BatPaC: Battery Manufacturing Cost Estimation Tool.

2017 – Steven Boyd, DOE, Vehicle Technologies Office, 2017 Annual Merit Review, Batteries and Electrification R&D Overview, June 18, 2018, PowerPoint presentation, p. 7.

2016 – David Howell, DOE, Vehicle Technologies Office, 2017 Annual Merit Review, Electrochemical Energy Storage R&D Overview, June 20, 2017, PowerPoint presentation, p. 6.

2008–2015 – National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2017. Review of the Research Program of the U.S. DRIVE Partnership: Fifth Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, p. 173.