Disclosed herein is a method for predicting the performance characteristics of a Li-ion battery over the course of the lifetime of the battery. A model based on integration of a set of ordinary differential equations is used to predict the voltage and thermal characteristics of the battery in a short period of time and a universal ordinary differential equation is used to predict the degradation of the battery by changing the parameters of the system of ordinary differential equations. The degradation of the battery is predicted in terms of change in various parameters of the battery (e.g., capacity, resistance, thermal behavior).