The electroactive lithium vanadium fluorophosphate phase, LiVPO4F (P1, a=5.1687(2)angstrom, b=5.3062(2)angstrom, c=7.5031(3)angstrom, alpha=66.856(2)degrees, beta=67.004(2)degrees, gamma=81.583(2)degrees and cell volume = 174.21 (1) angstrom(3)) has been synthesized by a two-step reaction scheme based on a carbothermal reduction (CTR) process. High-resolution electrochemical measurements reveal a structured voltage response for the lithium extraction process while the lithium insertion process proceeds via a two-phase reaction mechanism centered at around 4.2 V versus Li. Performance evaluation of a graphite vertical bar vertical bar LiVPO4F lithium-ion cell indicates an average discharge voltage of 4.06 V coupled to an initial material utilization for the LiVPO4F of around 123 mAh g(-1). Long-term cycling of this lithium-ion system demonstrates good capacity retention over the first 300 cycles. Based on the available data we believe the LiVPO4F offers considerable promise as a viable cathode replacement for LiCoO2. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.