The Ledger · Entry 29
Batteries cost a fraction of what they did
Price of lithium-ion battery cells, per kWh (2023 US$)
When the first lithium-ion cells went on sale in 1991 they cost $9,210 for a kilowatt-hour of storage, in today's money, which is why the earliest ones went into camcorders and laptops and nothing larger. Every doubling of production drove the price down, the same learning curve that made solar cheap.
The key rows
By 2024 a kilowatt-hour of cells cost $78, drawn here on a log scale so the whole collapse fits. That fall is what put electric cars within reach of ordinary buyers and let batteries start to firm up the power grid. Prices wobbled upward in 2022 when raw materials spiked, then resumed falling.
Asked often
How much have battery prices fallen?
Lithium-ion battery cell prices fell from about $9,210 per kilowatt-hour in 1991 to $78 in 2024, adjusted for inflation, roughly a hundredfold decline.
Why did lithium-ion batteries get so cheap?
The same learning curve that drove down solar: every doubling of cumulative production brought a steady percentage drop in price, as manufacturing scaled and chemistry improved.
The world also got better today.
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