High-performance and long-cycling rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have been in steadily increasing demand for the past decades. Nevertheless, the two dominant anodes at the moment, graphite and L4T5O12, suffer from a safety issue of lithium plating (operating voltage at ∼ 0.1 V vs. Li+/Li) and low capacity (175 mAh/g), respectively. Here, we report LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 as an alternative anode material which has a working voltage of ∼1.1 V and a capacity as high as 330 mAh/g at the current rate of C/15. Symmetric cells with both electrodes containing LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 can deliver average discharge voltage of 2.2 V. In-situ XRD, HRTEM and first principles calculations indicate that the reaction mechanism of a LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 anode is comprised mainly of conversion. Both the fundamental understanding and practical demonstrations suggest that LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 is a promising negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries.