In the first approximation, we can present a Li-Ion battery as a jar with the following parts: Consumed volume Remaining volume But why is this not true, and why can't we consume all the charge from the battery? Each battery, over some period of its life, loses some of its capacity, so even if you charge it to full, it will self-discharge to some extent. It is a best practice not to fully discharge a Li-Ion battery. The low safe threshold of voltage is around 2500 mV, lower voltage may damage the battery. On one hand, it is better to have a few percent in reserve; on the other hand, the voltage of the battery decreases dramatically when it is a couple of percent from empty. Therefore, it is a good compromise to stop consuming energy from the battery at a voltage of 3100 mV, i.e., reserve approximately 1.8% of charge. As a result we have four sections of a capacity of the Li-Ion battery: Self-discharged ...