Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3 is considered to be a prospective candidate cathode for sodium ion batteries owing to its high operating voltage and excellent structural stability. However, the cycle performance together with rate capability of Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3 has been restrained on account of its low electronic conductivity. In this work, a series of carbon-coated Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3 samples were fabricated by utilizing a facile one-step carbothermal reduction method. The well crystallized Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3/C showed good capacity performance where it delivered an initial discharge capacity of 112.3 mAh g(-1) at 1C rate with a high retention of 89.7% after 100 cycles. Even at the current rate of 8C, it could give a capacity of 64 mAh g(-1). The cycle stability of Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3/C at the high temperature of 55 degrees C was also demonstrated. Besides, the Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3/C showed good long-term durability, of which the capacity loss averaged 0.0264% per cycle at 2C rate at room temperature. Furthermore, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy well explained the difference about the electrochemical performance of different Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3/C samples. More importantly, Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3/C is of great competence to serve as cathode for future sodium ion batteries applied in energy storage systems, and this simple one-step carbothermal reduction strategy to get Na3V2(PO4)(2)F-3/C will make contributions to accelerating this process. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.