99% Battery Drop Enables $10K EVs

Lithium‑ion cell prices have fallen by roughly 99% since 1991 (from about $9,200/kWh to under $100/kWh), driven by cumulative production and many small engineering and manufacturing gains. That collapse has already cut the battery component of an average EV to around $5,000 and helped bring mass EV sales (20M global in 2025) and much cheaper entry models to market. — If battery costs continue to fall with scale, it remakes transport affordability, grid storage economics, industrial policy (where factories get built), and emissions trajectories, forcing policymakers and markets to reassess subsidies, permitting, and supply‑chain strategy.