Electric-car battery costs: Tesla $190 per kwh for pack, GM $145 for cells

Tesla Model S lithium-ion battery pack in rolling chassis [photo: Martin Gillet via Flickr]

Lithium-ion cells and the battery packs that hold them are the single most costly part of modern electric cars.

And how fast their costs will fall remains the defining factor in making those cars affordable for the mass market.

GM made waves last fall when product chief Mark Reuss said the company will pay $145 per kilowatt-hour for the cells in the battery pack of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV that will roll out at the end of this year.

Now we have a comparable data point of sorts for electric-car startup Tesla Motors as it works feverishly to get its promised 200-mile, $35,000 Model 3 sedan into production by the end of 2017.

The estimate came during a conference call among UBS financial analyst Colin Langan and former GM electrification expert Jon Bereisa, who is now president and CEO of Auto Lectrification.

As covered by Street Insider (complete with a misspelled "Telsa" in the headline), the somewhat negative Bereisa estimated Tesla's per-kwh cost for the entire Model 3 battery pack at $260 per kwh.

Read more: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1103667_electric-car-battery-costs-tesla-190-per-kwh-for-pack-gm-145-for-cells