This paper presents a comparative study of twelve equivalent circuit models for Li-ion batteries. These twelve models were selected from state-of-the-art lumped models reported in the literature. The test data used is obtained from a battery test system with a climate chamber. The test schedule is designed to measure key cell attributes under highly dynamical excitations. The datasets were collected from two types of Li-ion cells under three different temperatures. The multi-swarm particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to identify the optimal model parameters for the two types of Li-ion cells. The usefulness of these models is then studied through a comprehensive evaluation by examining model complexity, model accuracy, and robustness of the model by applying the model to datasets obtained from other cells of the same chemistry type. (C) 2011 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.