Electric Car Battery Pack Cost

Calculate Battery Pack Cost

We have been provided with information that permits the cost for the battery packs in the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan LEAF to be calculated. 

Mr. Pat Davis, head of vehicle technologies at the Department of Energy indicated that the cost of batteries in electric cars today runs about $800 per usable kilowatt hour.

Nissan LEAF battery pack shown at Ride and Drive event.

The Volt has an 8 kWh battery pack so the price calculates to approximately $6,400.  The LEAF has a 22 kWh battery pack which means that it costs about $17,600. 

GM Battery Pack Construction

Mr. Davis indicates that the DOE expects battery costs to drop by more than half, to around $300 per kWh by 2015. This number would bring the cost down in a Volt to $2,400, and $6,600 for the Nissan LEAF.