Why are 12V 100Ah batteries so cheap?

Thu Nov 30

Written by: Casey O.

12V 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries are really, really cheap compared to other battery sizes and chemistries, especially on Amazon.

I was able to find multiple different 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries under $200. You may need a Prime account for some of these deals, but that is the price to have the battery shipped to your door.

Check out our price comparison tool if you’d like to see this for yourself.

For example, a $166 12V 100Ah battery is a shocking $129.69 per kWh.

That same capacity at $185 is $144.53 per kWh.

To be clear, these are often white-label batteries from Alibaba/China drop sold on Amazon. It’s very likely they have questionable build quality and zero customer support if something goes wrong, but it’s still quite remarkable, as only a few years ago the same product were sold for over $500.

Batteries with the same specs from brands like LiTime with better customer support can be found for around $240, which is still a good deal at $187.49 per kWh.

Are all LiFePO4 batteries this cheap? How do other sizes stack up?

For an apples-to-apples comparison, let’s look at other LiTime batteries.

Al prices are as of 11/30/2023 1:00PM EST.

A LiTime 12V 50Ah battery goes for $139.99, or $218.73 per kWh. Makes sense that a smaller battery might be a little more expensive per kWh, in general buying in bulk is cheaper. Both batteries need an enclosure and a BMS. They need be shipped from China, warehoused in a fulfillment center, and mailed to the customer. The LiFePO4 cells inside aren’t the only expense that the sellers have.

A LiTime 12V 200Ah battery costs $509.99, or $199.21 per kWh. Wait a minute, that’s more expensive per kWh than the 100Ah battery with similar features! What happened to buying in bulk?

What about if we go even bigger to try to bring the price per kWh down again. LiTime sells a big 48V 100Ah server rack battery on their website, which costs $1399.99 shipped. It has a few different features like big screw terminals and a cutoff switch, but it costs $273.44 per kWh. That’s way more expensive per kWh than the 12V 100Ah batteries!

In the past, buying raw LiFePO4 cells from China and assembling a battery with a BMS and enclosure and fuses and all that was the most cost-effective way to build a large LiFePO4 battery. On YouTube, Jehu Garcia built a massive 48V system and was able to get the cost down to $250 per kWh, using raw cells and buying the enclosures and rack and BMSs and circuit boards and other components separately. Going the DIY route involves more of a safety risk, specialized tools, and doesn’t come with a warranty, but even so it’s almost double the price of the cheapest 12V 100Ah batteries on Amazon!

There is something interesting happening here in the market of LiFePO4 batteries. I have a guess that is might have to do with a few factors like economy of scale, the ease of slotting a smaller 20 pound battery into existing Amazon fulfillment infrastructure—something a big server rack battery can’t do as easily, and competition between sellers that is bringing the price down. LiFePO4 cells are dropping in price very quickly, and it seems the price of the cells themselves are no longer the main factor in the pricing of these small batteries. Manufacturing, the enclosure and electronics, marketing, delivery, etc. influence the final price of the product.

In addition, manufacturers who have inventories of LiFePO4 batteries they manufactured when the cells were more expensive understandably won’t want to accept a big loss by lowering the prices yet. Drop sellers on Amazon don’t have that problem. As a consumer, purchasing larger batteries is no longer the cheapest way to get lots of energy storage for less money for use cases like RVs, van-life, DIY solar generators, or trolling motors. It’s fascinating, and it will be interesting to see if prices continue to fall.