Headlines report falling battery prices, LFPs dominating stationary storage, and sodium-ion edging into utility tenders. These market swings point to the chemistry likely to dominate the global storage race and what it could mean for grid operators, end users and investors.
Battery cell manufacturing overcapacity and fierce competition drove lithium-ion (Li-ion) prices down over the past decade, and they continue to fall.
In its 2025 Lithium-Ion Battery Price Survey, BloombergNEF puts the average global battery pack price at $108/kWh in 2025, down 8% from 2024. Stationary storage packs fell further, to around $70/kWh, down 45% year-on-year, while China’s average pack price dropped to $84/kWh.
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) drove much of that price decline. The IEA reports that LFP packs were more than 40% cheaper per kWh than nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) packs in 2025. Part of that gap reflects LFP’s grip on stationary storage, where it accounted for more than 90% of global installations that year.
However, while batteries keep getting cheaper to manufacture, the risks from commodity prices, supply-chain constraints and overcapacity cycles can sharply reverse the trend in the short term.
DID YOU KNOW? Africa is pursuing battery value-chain growth through DRC precursor manufacturing and South African gigafactory plans, while evolving chemistries threaten demand for its cobalt, lithium and nickel resources.
The markets where LFPs and NMCs dominate
Low cost, long cycle life and strong thermal stability make LFPs very difficult to beat on grid-scale BESS installations. The same holds for C&I storage, where space is usually available and, for ROI, daily cycling matters more than achieving maximum energy density.
But long-range EVs still favour NMC and newer manganese-rich chemistries because… [fill in the form to continue reading.]
