Li-ion batteries are used widely for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Heat generation during the operation of a Li-ion cell results in large temperature rise, particularly at high discharge rates. Accurate prediction of temperature rise during operation is a key technical challenge that directly affects both performance and safety. Li-ion cells are often used in cyclic charge/discharge manner, making this a particularly important process to study. This paper presents an experimentally-validated analytical method to rapidly and accurately predict the temperature field in a Li-ion cell undergoing cyclic charge and discharge. Based on recursive solution of the governing energy equation during the cyclic process, this method computes temperature around 16X faster than finite-element simulations, and is found to be in very good agreement with experimental data for over fifty cycles of high-rate cycling of 18650 Li-ion cells. Results indicate that heat loss through the metal foil that provides electrical interconnection is a critical process that governs overall thermal behavior of the cell. A novel technique based on determining the effective heat transfer coefficient of the interconnection is described, which is shown to agree very well with experimental data. Results from this paper may be helpful for design of Li-ion cell systems, as well as real-time temperature prediction and performance optimization. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.