Commercial graphite electrodes exhibit insufficient energy density to meet future automotive battery targets. Herein we explore the electrochemical characteristics of a stable high energy density carbon battery anode layer directly prepared by PVD related Virtual Cathode Deposition technique. The novel form of carbon prepared by VCD enables access to a specific capacity much higher than the graphite theoretical value of 375mAhg^-1 while having high coulombic efficiency and lifetime. Lithium ion diffusion was derived from a range of electrochemical methods and compared with ex-situ results. Our ex-situ analysis provides further insight into the differences between VCD prepared carbon and conventional graphite anodes.