A car nearly doubled its battery for a small rise in price
The 2022 Nissan Leaf started at 27,400 dollars, the price Nissan lists before any delivery fee, with a 40 kilowatt hour battery, a unit that measures how much energy a battery can store. The 2026 Nissan LEAF starts at 29,990 dollars on the same basis, with a 75 kilowatt hour battery, according to the government fuel economy database that lists both cars. The battery grew 87.5% while the starting price rose only 9.4%.
The price of a kilowatt hour of battery fell by about 35%
The Department of Energy models what a battery pack costs to build at a large factory, at least 100,000 units a year, and put that modeled manufacturing cost at 153 dollars per kilowatt hour in 2022. BloombergNEF, a market research firm, surveys prices actually paid across the industry, and put its 2025 average for electric car battery packs at 99 dollars per kilowatt hour. Those are 2 different measurements, a modeled manufacturing cost against a market survey price, not the same number tracked over time, so the 35% fall between them is a direction rather than an exact figure.
The 2022 figure is a Department of Energy modeled manufacturing cost, source 2. The 2025 figure is a BloombergNEF market survey price for electric car battery packs specifically, source 1. They are 2 different measurements, not the same number tracked over time, so the 35% fall between them is a direction rather than an exact figure.
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| 2022 modeled cost | 153 |
| 2025 survey price | 99 |
The estimated battery share grew instead of shrinking
Nissan does not publish what it actually pays for a Leaf battery pack, so multiplying each battery size by its era price per kilowatt hour gives only an estimate. The 2022 battery works out to about 6,120 dollars, 40 kilowatt hours at 153 dollars each, about 22% of the 27,400 dollar starting price. The 2026 battery works out to about 7,425 dollars, 75 kilowatt hours at 99 dollars each, about 25% of the 29,990 dollar starting price. The estimated share grew even though the price per kilowatt hour fell, because Nissan put almost all of that saving into a much bigger battery rather than a cheaper car.
Starting prices are Nissan manufacturer suggested prices for the 2022 Leaf, source 3, and the 2026 LEAF, source 4. Estimated battery cost is a MAOWCE calculation, battery size from source 3 and source 4 multiplied by the price per kilowatt hour in the chart above, source 1 and source 2, not a cost Nissan states.
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| 2022 starting price | 27,400 |
| 2022 estimated battery cost | 6,120 |
| 2026 starting price | 29,990 |
| 2026 estimated battery cost | 7,425 |
A MAOWCE calculation, battery size multiplied by price per kilowatt hour, divided by starting price, using source 1, source 2, source 3 and source 4. Measured against the priciest 2026 trim instead of the cheapest, the 2026 share falls to about 19%, because all 3 2026 trims carry the identical battery and the price difference between them buys features, not more battery.
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| 2022 | 22 |
| 2026 | 25 |
The 25% figure only holds against the cheapest 2026 trim
Nissan sells the 2026 LEAF in 3 versions, called trims, each with different features but all carrying the identical 75 kilowatt hour battery, priced at 29,990 dollars, 34,230 dollars and 38,990 dollars. The 25% estimate compares the 2022 starting price against the 2026 starting price, the cheapest version sold in each year. Measured against the costliest 2026 trim instead, the same estimated 7,425 dollar battery falls to about 19% of the 38,990 dollar price, because the 9,000 dollar gap between trims buys features, not more battery.
This estimate does not reflect what Nissan pays
Every dollar figure past the starting prices in this article is an estimate built from industry wide prices applied to 1 named car, not a cost Nissan states. The average electric car sold in the United States for 50,798 dollars in December 2023, down 24.2% from its 2022 peak, according to the United States Energy Information Administration, the federal agency that tracks energy statistics. The Leaf sits well under that market average, so this comparison should not be read as typical of every electric car.