The price of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS) have fallen by a third in the past year, according to a report by Korea’s Electronic Times.
It reports the price of mid-to-large lithium-ion secondary battery cells dropped from $500-600/kWh last year to $350/kWh. In South Korea, said to be less competitive than the global market, batteries are traded at $400-500/kWh.
Accordingly, ESS prices fell by approximately 30%. Installation of a 1MWh ESS, consisting of the battery module, the battery management system (BMS), the power management system (PMS) and the power conversion system (PCS), costs 1.3-1.4 billion ($1.26m-1.36m) South Korean won (KRW), down from KRW1.7-1.8 billion a year ago.
ESS prices are sharply dropping in Japan too, reports the Electronic Times. The consumer price of Japan-based Nichicon’s domestic 3kWh ESS using Samsung SDI batteries fell from KRW23m in 2013 to KRW16m.
Taking the distribution and installation margin and prices of parts like PCS into account, this would put the cost of the battery at $300/kWh.
The report expects the battery price for Korean state utility KEPCO’s frequency regulation ESS project at under $500/kWh.
The price cuts were attributed to sales efforts of Korean firms LG Chem and Samsung SDI, China’s Lishen and BYD, as well as Japan’s Panasonic.
