As Visual Capitalist's Govind Bhutada details below, since 2010, the average price of a lithium-ion (Li-ion) EV battery pack has fallen from $1,200 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to just $132/kWh in 2021.

Inside each EV battery pack are multiple interconnected modules made up of tens to hundreds of rechargeable Li-ion cells. Collectively, these cells make up roughly 77% of the total cost of an average battery pack, or about $101/kWh.

So, what drives the cost of these individual battery cells?

The Cost of a Battery Cell

According to data from BloombergNEF, the cost of each cell's cathode adds up to more than half of the overall cell cost.