EV Transition Threatened as Battery Prices Rise for First Time
Cost of metals expected to keep prices high until 2024.
A person looks at a bank of lithium-ion batteries in La Jolla, California.
Photographer: Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty ImagesPrices for the batteries that power everything from smartphones to cars rose in 2022 for the first time since research firm BloombergNEF started tracking them — and they won’t likely drop next year.
The global average price for lithium-ion battery packs climbed 7% to $151 per kilowatt-hour, according to BNEF’s annual battery price survey. Never before in the 12 years BNEF has surveyed battery prices have they recorded an annual increase, instead dropping sharply as production grew. But this year’s rising costs for lithium, nickel and the other metals batteries contain have halted that decline and will keep prices around $152/kWh in 2023, BNEF predicts. Not until 2024, when more lithium production is expected to come online, are prices forecast to drop again.