Electric Vehicles

Storage and EV Flexibility

Battery storage and vehicle-to-grid systems overtake thermal plants as the world’s main flexibility resource well before mid-century.

• Grid-connected storage grows 2.4 TWh (2024) → 60 TWh (2060) (+2,500%).
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 p. 59
  
  
• Li-ion share rises from 7% to > 80% of storage capacity; pumped-hydro falls to 10%.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 p. 60
  
  
• LCOS (stand-alone utility Li-ion) drops USD 370 → 155/MWh (2024–2050); below USD 200/MWh by early 2030s.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 p. 65
  
  
• Vehicle-to-grid capacity >10% of total by 2029 and surpasses pumped hydro by 2040.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 p. 67
  
  
• Li-ion provides >50% of global short-term flexibility by 2060.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 p. 66
  
  
• Grid-connected storage scales 2.4 TWh (2024) → 60 TWh (2060) (25×), underpinning a 7× rise in renewable electricity.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 (§3.7)
  
  
• Pumped hydro falls from ~93% of storage (2024) to 50% (2030) and ~10% (2060); Li-ion becomes dominant, reaching ~53 TWh (2060), much of it co-located with solar.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 (§3.7)
  
  
• LCOS declines USD ~370/MWh (2024) → ~235 (2030) → ~155 (2050); sub-USD 200/MWh achieved in early 2030s despite regional supply-chain volatility.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 (§3.7)
  
  
• Short-term flexibility needs rise from ~544 GW (2024) → ~1,500 GW (2050) → ~1,600 GW (2060). Li-ion surpasses hydropower as the top flexibility provider by 2034 and supplies ≥50% of global short-term flexibility by 2047 (and remains >50% in 2060).
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 (§3.7)
  
  
• V2G exceeds 10% of total storage by 2029 and surpasses pumped hydro by 2040, as prosumer assets aggregate into VPPs.
  Source: DNV ETO 2025 (§3.7)