mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

GM Expects Battery Cells To Cost $87 Per kWh By 2025

GM says it expects to further reduce battery costs by 2025.

In its Q1 2023 earnings report, The General reported that it intends to reduce battery costs down to roughly $87 per kWh by calendar year 2025. This is a significant development, as the Detroit-based automaker originally anticipated to reduce costs to the $100 per kWh range through its Ultium Cells partnership with LG Energy Solution.

GM Ultium Cells plant in Lansing, Michigan.

A significant step to achieving this reduction in costs is related to the battery itself. General Motors has been in the process of developing a cylindrical battery cell design. In comparison to the current pouch-style battery cells GM has been using, cylindrical cells offer a competitive advantage due to the more streamlined production process. That being said, rivals Stellantis, BMW, and Volvo are also working on the cylindrical battery cell design.

“We will continue to scale production and optimize the chemistry of our pouch cells for performance, range and cost using new approaches pioneered at GM’s Wallace Battery Center and by our technology partners,” GM Executive Vice President Doug Parks was recently quoted as saying. “The introduction of new cell form factors will allow us to expand into even more segments more quickly and integrate cells directly into battery packs to reduce weight, complexity and costs. With multiple strong cell partners, we can scale our EV business faster than we could going it alone.”

With this in mind, it’s worth noting that battery prices across the industry have been rising as of late. In fact, GM Authority reported that the average cost for EV batteries rose seven percent to roughly $141 per kWh over the course of the 2021 calendar year. This rise in prices is related to a multitude of reasons, the most notable of which is rising material costs. Cobalt, nickel, and lithium – all of which are vital to battery manufacturing – have been becoming more expensive in recent years.

General Motors is aware of this issue, and has been working to reduce battery costs for quite some time now.

Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM business news, GM EV news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.

As a typical Florida Man, Trey is a certified GM nutjob who's obsessed with anything and everything Corvette-related.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Would be interesting to know if that’s before or after applicable Battery related advanced manufacturing tax credits:
    Active Electrode material 10% of the cost to the manufacturer.
    Battery Cell: $35/kwh
    Battery module: $10/kwh (or $45/kwh, if the module doesn’t use cells)
    Critical minerals: 10% of the cost to the manufacturer.

    Could be worth about $50/kwh reduction.

    Reply
    1. Gasoline is still cleaner, cheaper and domestic. All that EV crap has to be imported and subsidized.

      Reply
      1. Wrong on 2 out of 3 counts. And a lot of EV stuff can be gotten domestically, and a lot of the cost of gasoline is subsidized or externalized.

        As for gas is cheaper: I don’t think so.
        Local gas costs: $4.30/gal
        Local electric cost: $0.12/kwh

        My EV uses 280Wh/mi. $4.30 buys me about 36KWh or 36,000Wh. 36,000/280 = 128.5miles for the cost of a gallon of gas. An equivalent gas car is going to only get me about 25miles down the road for that same cost.

        Or seen another way, driving 12,000 miles/yr cost me $403/yr in my EV. vs $2,064/yr in a typical gas car.

        Reply
        1. When you add in the cost of $15,000 battery replacement your back to the same cost as gas and it’s STILL not cordless.

          Reply
          1. My EV is likely to still have 80% or more capacity in the battery after 200k miles. Really not worried about having to replace the battery in a 15 year old car. Will probably sell long before that anyway. And in 15 years, battery tech will be cheaper and better.

            Reply
          2. Have you ever looked into and equivalent ICE engine replacement. My nephew replaced his 350 Diesel engine at over $15,000. That was 13 years ago. Also, what would a engine for an over $100,000 vehicle cost. Tesla’s batteries at 200,000 miles are averaging only about 10% loss which a 300-mile battery would be getting 270 miles after that. Most ICE engines are pretty much on their last legs if the car isn’t in the recking yard. Also, you make a generalization of $15,000 and as all ICE vehicle engines don’t cost the same also, all batteries don’t cost $15,000. So, research would help when making a comment.

            Reply
          3. People don’t realize the history here. My Tesla roadster battery was around $800 per kilowatt-hour.

            GM batteries traditionally are long-lasting, and people are not factoring in the main thing that kills propulsion batteries is charge/discharge cycles.

            A volt battery would fully charge and discharge once per day, whereas a bolt travels the same distance with charging only required once a week .

            That means a high mileage salesman or technician will get 500,000 miles on a bolt battery.

            Another beneficial characteristic of battery electric vehicles is that people usually charge up before the battery drops to one quarter full and don’t always charge up past three quarters full, since they are recharging a little bit at home overnight.

            A battery given this kid gloves treatment typically lasts 3 times as long.

            With GM batteries there is little to be concerned about.

            Now GM tranny’s regularly fail after 100,000 miles.

            Perhaps there should be some concern about unreliability with those products.

            Reply
        2. Gas doesn’t have to be that high, but it’s caused by government regulations.

          Reply
          1. Gas is the not as cheap as it is, because of government regulations and policies.

            The price you pay at the pump does not reflect the cost of the damage producing and burning gasoline does to the environment and health of the population.

            Reply
        3. There are no subsidies to consumers on gasoline, unlike the direct rebates for EVs. Gasoline would also be Way cheaper if it were not for all the taxes.

          Reply
          1. Have you ever heard of the oil depletion allowance. Remember this has been going on for just under 100 year. Last year .5 Billion with no end in sight. So, if EVs don’t deserve it why does oil! Never heard any gear heads complaining about it. Biden is trying to end it.

            “About $0.5 billion
            This allowance was first instituted in 1926 to compensate for the decreasing value of the resource, and was eliminated for major oil companies in 1975. This tax deduction is estimated to save independent oil and gas producers about $0.5 billion in the fiscal year 2022.”

            Reply
        4. Maybe where you live but where I live it’s $3.30 per gallon and $0.32 kwh and it’s below freezing for half the year where I’ll lose 30 percent of my charge. $3.30 buys me about 10 kwh 10000/280 = 36mpg summer 70% 36mpg is 25mpg winter my hybrid gets 46mpg. Ev loses all day long with these real world prices where I live. None of this accounts for initial costs or subsidies or long term costs which once again EV loses all day long. It’s just a giant money grab corporations will make a ton more by going EV and the consumer will pay it!

          Reply
          1. Okay granted there are locales where EVs do not have the refueling cost advantage. I pay 13 4/5ths cents per kWh. But the utility here has offered overnight metering which has varied from 4 to
            11 cents per kWh.

            Solar panels are also a desirable option in high cost electricity areas.

            People in the New England area of the USA fondly remember 14 cents per gallon heating oil. That is why oil was used for space and water heating and large trucking.

            Unfortunately that pricing is unavailable and such bonanzas won’t be available for a long time.

            Reply
          2. My EV gets 128mpge. Even if it loses 30% in winter, that’s still close to 99mpg. And range loss can be mitigated by pre-conditioning the car in the garage. Try warming up your ICE in the garage without poisoning your family.

            Even considering 30% range loss, with 280-300 mile range on my EV, that’s still plenty for my daily needs. Way beyond, in fact.

            Reply
        5. Don’t know where you live but according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration the national average for residential electricity is $.1596 / kw/hr as February, 2023. The range is from $.097 in North Dakota to $.4424 in Hawaii. California is $.2707. These are all if you charge at home. If you travel out of your immediate area and have to charge at a commercial charger it is at a much higher rate depending on if it is a Level 2 or Level 3 charger (most over $.45 / kw/hr). In addition, these rates do not include the federal and state taxes on gasoline for road maintenance (national average is $.484 / gallon) which will eventually be added to EV costs in some form. Lastly, your $4.30 / gallon for gasoline is again location-dependent, in my area (SE Michigan), it is currently around $3.40 / gallon. I think that your analysis demonstrates that EVs are economical for local travel in your specific geographic area are while being charged at home. For different locations (i.e. California) or taking trips beyond the local area (requiring commercial charging), and if you assume that eventually EVs will have to assume their responsibility for road maintenance then the analysis is completely different. I am not “for” or “against” EVs but your analysis was not representative of most drivers.

          Reply
          1. I can travel 3 to 4 hours North, South, East, or West, and still be in my “geographical area” of cheap electricity and expensive gas.

            (Farther if I choose East, South, or North, but I run into ocean if I go too far West 😉

            And generally if I’m traveling that far, I’m probably stopping for the night and can find cheap L2 charging

            Reply
    2. Why all the downvotes?

      Reply
      1. The loudest proponents for EVs have been saying since the beginning that EV batteries are only going to get cheaper with economies of scale, which is typical of sound quantitative analysis, however the exponential increase in demand of EVs means an exponential increase in demand for those specific metals. Those metals only exist in relatively small quantities around the world, and are difficult to produce, making them expensive. The laws of supply and demand dictate that as demand for EVs rises exponentially (due in part to government policy banning sale of ICE vehicles and huge subsidies for EVs), the demand for those metals is going to drive the prices higher as demand outpaces supply. EV makers will decrease costs due to manufacturing innovation and efficiencies, but any savings will be offset by the increasing cost of metals. Also China is increasingly gaining control over the rare earth metals market. Most of those metals come from countries other than the US. Compare that with gas and diesel, which we know are in abundant supply all over the world inclusing domestically, and relative to EV materials cheap to produce.

        I will grant you that as passenger vehicles in climates which are temperate all year, EVs are very efficient and relatively cheap to operate. But outside of temperate climates and for other uses they are not the be-all end all; As soon as you have very cold climates or use them for any work (hauling or towing) you’re still much better off with an ICE vehicle (reliable effiency and predictable range). EVs might get there some day, but they aren’t there yet, not even close.

        Reply
  2. GM must consider using the LFP chemistry if they change to cylindrical cells.

    Reply
    1. I think most LFP are prismatic or pouch style cells.

      Reply
  3. They claim down… market has been trending up. Make your claims. What’s real is real, what’s not is not.

    Reply
    1. It’s likely the price would’ve fallen awhile ago had geopolitics not gotten in the way. But it doesn’t look like those problems will be going away any time soon.

      Reply
  4. I’ll keep my ice vehicles until I can’t get one.
    When the untrustworthy push an agenda this hard with so little proven data, someone’s getting richer and it’s not the consumer.
    Kinda reminds one of the push to get everyone injected multiple times with an unproven drug.
    Same government, same tactics, same results.
    Wake up folks, you’re being scammed yet again.

    Reply
    1. well said!

      Reply
    2. being WOKE is derogatory DS!

      Reply
    3. It’s not the lack of knowledge that’s the greatest risk, but the illusion of knowledge. The ignorant rarely admit they don’t have an answer. They parrot what they’ve been told without applying critical thinking skills to weed out the hearsay and lies.

      Reply
  5. I have ordered a Lyriq and look forward to my next GM EV. My first car was a used 1967 Camero and perhaps I will be tooling around in a performance Camero EV in the not so distant future. Bring on that Wildcat though, you may just change my mind.

    Reply
    1. Hi SG: My first car was a used 1967 Camero with a free 250 cubic inch Big Six upgrade and 3 on the floor versus 3 on the tree. September 1967 GM marketing plan after FORD hired Catherine Deneuvre, to ‘Demonstrate’ the ‘4 on the floor’ Mustang Shifter.

      Got my 2023 Luxury Lyriq a week ago and while I initially did not like the car, I’ve grown to like it much better after driving 300 miles yesterday… There is just a long learning curve with the car, that’s all.

      Reply
  6. Battery cost’s rising? Just Shocking!!

    Reply
    1. You need to do research battery prices are going down. “The popular Nissan Leaf electric car – which is also one of the most affordable models – has a 40 kWh battery. At our 2018 price, the battery costs around $7,300. Imagine trying to buy the same model in 1991: the battery alone would cost $300,000.
      Or take the Tesla Model S 75D which has a 75 kWh battery. In 2018 the battery costs around $13,600; in 1991 it would have been $564,000. More than half a million dollars for a car battery.”
      Looks like you are wrong or are listening to those who don’t know what they are talking about.

      Reply
  7. Electric vehicles didn’t work in 1910 and they won’t work now.

    Reply
  8. $87/kwh? So a 100kwh battery is going to cost $8700? That doesn’t sound like a bargain. The 20 gallon fuel tank in my Equinox is a $500 part (OEM). Not to mention I can go 550 highway miles on a full tank without stopping…and then refill in less than 10 minutes. 20 gallons of gas also only weighs 120 pounds. A 100kwh EV battery weighs around 1200lbs…

    Reply
    1. Though the equivalent cost on the ICE is also the engine and the exhaust systems.

      So add another $6000-$7000 for the engine and another $1000 for the exhaust system.

      And add the cost of the transmission. ICE needs an expensive multi gear transmission, where As an EV just needs a simple single ratio gear box.

      So maybe another $3,000 difference.

      So EV battery $8700 vs ICE system $10,000

      Then there are manufacturing efficiencies. Ford says it takes 40% less labor to build an EV.

      Article here on GMA said GM said 75% fewer part numbers on the Silverado EV vs the ICE EV.

      ICE is gonna lose. It’s just a matter of time

      Reply
      1. The human race is losing it should be about the best technology not political gain climate change is fueling all of this and nobody can tell me how many parts per million should be in the atmosphere of carbon it’s actually laughable how little people actually know

        Reply
    2. One thing I know for sure, every single trip to the store to buy batteries the price goes up.

      Reply
  9. I’m excited we’re giving 7500 in tax credits while we’re trillions of dollars in debt.

    Reply
    1. Were you equally excited when Republicans gave the extremely wealthy $1 Trillion in tax cuts when we were already in debt? Or the $3-$6 Trillion spent on decades of pointless war?

      At least the $7500 is going to the middle class as investment in a clean transportation future that will actually save us money in the long run.

      Reply
  10. 🚴here ya go kids……. And it’s fun , cars stopped being fun in my early twenties

    Reply
  11. My bolt euv has a 65 kWh battery at the $87 price the battery would cost $5655. So a cheap ev would be possible and profitable at that price.

    Reply
  12. DREAM ON GM!!!!!!! As utility companies drive up costs of raw materials due to the construction of utility grade battery storage across the USA there will be massive demand. High demand means high prices.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel