The effect of ultrahigh current densities, of the order of 1 A cm-2, on the performance of a lithium electrode is investigated. The results are of interest for the high-rate operation of lithium polymer batteries. It is shown that, prior to interfacial degradation, lithium can be stripped at 0.85 A cm-2 with 200 mV polarization. These high rates can be obtained only by making provisions to reduce mass transport resistance, accomplished in this work by using microelectrodes. Although 1 A cm-2 far exceeds the transport-limited current density of a lithium battery, these results indicate that (i) interfacial resistance associated with the Li/Li+ electron transfer reaction is negligible during battery operation and (ii) any significant interfacial impedance is attributable to interfacial degradation. Kinetic parameters for the Li/Li+ reaction and the Li+ diffusion coefficient are obtained for a 1 M lithium perchlorate + propylene carbonate electrolyte.