TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The electrochemical intercalating/alloying step comprises intercalating/alloying lithium to a level of at least 80% of total theoretical capacity of the active composition and the de-intercalating/de-alloying step comprises de-intercalating/de-alloying the preloaded lithium to not greater than 25% of the total theoretical capacity of the active composition. The method further comprises: repeating at least once the electrochemically intercalating/alloying step and/or the de-intercalating/de-alloying electrochemically step; and assembling the preloaded negative electrode with a positive electrode to form a battery, where the positive electrode comprises (I). The electrochemically intercalating/alloying step comprises contacting the negative electrode and the lithium source material in an electrolyte and making an electrical connection between the negative electrode and the lithium source material. In the method, after cycling the battery for 20 cycles from 4.5-2 volts and after fully discharging the battery to 2 volts, the negative electrode of the battery can be removed and discharged with a specific capacity of at least 1 mAh/g with the corresponding removal of lithium from the negative electrode, and after cycling the battery for 20 cycles from 4.5-2 volts and after discharging the battery to 98% of the battery capacity, the negative electrode of the battery can be removed and electrochemically de-intercalated/de-alloyed to provide a capacity of at least 2.5% of the total theoretical capacity of the active composition with the corresponding removal of lithium from the negative electrode. Preferred Components: The lithium source material is lithium foil or elemental lithium, and/or lithium alloy. The active composition comprises graphitic carbon or silicon. The sacrificial lithium source is in the positive electrode. The sacrificial lithium source is lithium foil. The negative electrode lithium intercalation/alloying composition comprises graphitic carbon or silicon.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The battery further comprises a sacrificial electrode (120), where the sacrificial lithium source is in the sacrificial electrode. EXAMPLE - Lithium metal oxide powders were mixed thoroughly with acetylene black and graphite to form the homogeneous powder mixture. Separately, polyvinylidene fluoride was mixed with N-methyl-pyrrolidone and stirred overnight to form a polyvinylidene fluoride-N-methyl-pyrrolidone solution. The homogeneous powder mixture was then added to the polyvinylidene fluoride-N-methyl-pyrrolidone solution and mixed for 2 hours to form homogeneous slurry. The slurry was applied onto an aluminum foil current collector to form the thin wet film and the positive electrode material was formed by drying the laminated current collector in the vacuum oven at 110 degrees C for 2 hours to remove N-methyl-pyrrolidone. The positive electrode material was pressed between rollers of the sheet mill to obtain the positive electrode with desired thickness. The dried electrode comprised active metal oxide (75 wt.%), acetylene black (3 wt.%), graphite (1 wt.%), and polymer binder (2 wt.%). The negative electrode was formed from graphitic carbon. The negative electrode comprised graphite (75 wt.%) and acetylene black (1 wt.%) with the remaining portion of the negative electrode being polymer binder. The acetylene black was initially mixed with N-methyl-pyrrolidone solvent to form the uniform dispersion. The graphite and polymer were added to the dispersion to form the slurry. The slurry was applied to the copper foil to form the negative electrode after drying. Then separator was disposed between the graphitic carbon electrode and the lithium foil electrode, to obtain lithiation coin cell.