Battery chemistry & storage
Enter the capacity you need. Compare total nameplate cost across six chemistries, or check your own quote against typical market rates.
How it works
Step 1
All six chemistries get compared at the same target capacity, since usable depth of discharge already varies by chemistry. The weight comparison tool uses the same target-capacity approach if you want a second dimension.
Step 2
Comparing a real quote against typical market rates shows immediately whether you're above, at, or below average pricing.
Step 3
The cheapest chemistry upfront isn't always cheapest over time. The total cost of ownership comparison factors in cycle life and replacement timing on top of this starting point.
Lead acid's mature, high-volume manufacturing keeps its cost per nameplate kWh well below every other chemistry compared here, often by half or more relative to lithium options. That upfront advantage is a big part of why lead acid remains common in cost-sensitive applications, even with its shorter cycle life and lower usable depth of discharge, a cost pattern also visible in the DOE's Office of Electricity storage market data.
A lower cost per kWh nameplate doesn't automatically mean lower cost over the life of the system, since cycle life, usable depth of discharge, and replacement frequency all factor into what you actually pay per year of service. The lithium vs lead acid comparison walks through that fuller math directly, and if a higher-cost chemistry still makes sense once you factor in how you're paying for it, the financing for battery addition calculator works through that side of the decision.
Market pricing shifts with commodity costs, manufacturing scale, regional demand, and installer markup, so any single quote can reasonably land somewhat above or below these typical averages. Configuration plays a role too, since the single battery vs multi battery cost tool shows how splitting the same total capacity across multiple units changes the per-kWh math. Use the quote comparison field to see your specific number in context rather than assuming it should match exactly. The recycling value calculator covers the other end of a battery's cost life cycle.
Once you've settled on a chemistry by cost, the quick comparison tool checks that same choice against cycle life and safety in one pass. For the broader national cost trends behind these figures, NREL's Annual Technology Baseline for battery storage tracks how these numbers have moved over time and where they're projected to go.
Questions
Lead acid typically runs around $175 per nameplate kWh, the cheapest upfront, followed by sodium-ion around $400, LFP around $450, NMC around $500, saltwater around $550, and vanadium flow around $700, the most expensive per kWh of nameplate capacity.
No. Lead acid's low upfront cost per kWh is offset by a much shorter cycle life and lower usable depth of discharge, which usually makes it more expensive per year of actual service than LFP despite its lower sticker price. Cost per kWh is a starting point, not the full picture.
Enter your own quoted cost per kWh alongside the chemistry you're evaluating, and this tool will use your real number for that chemistry while showing typical rates for the rest, letting you see immediately whether your quote runs above or below the market range.
Flow batteries require electrolyte tanks, pumps, and a reaction stack on top of the electrolyte itself, adding fixed costs that don't scale down well for smaller systems. That upfront complexity is why flow typically costs the most per kWh of any common storage chemistry at residential scale.