Petroleum coke (PeC), a soft carbon, displays excellent performance at high current densities so that it can be considered as a very promising material for high performance lithium-ion capacitors (LICs). PeC-based LICs deliver a specific energy and power of 48 Wh kg(-1) and 9 kW kg(-1), respectively, upon charge-discharge tests carried out using a current density of 4.5 A g(-1) (corresponding to 30 C). These values are outperforming those displayed by supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries under the same condition, and such performance can be maintained for 50,000 cycles. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.