Formation is a critical step in battery manufacturing. During this process, lithium inventory is consumed to form the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), which in turn determines the battery lifetime. To tackle the vast parameter space and complexity of formation, we employ a data-driven workflow on 186 lithium-ion battery cells across 62 formation protocols. We identify two key parameters, formation charge current and temperature, that control battery longevity via distinct mechanisms. Surprisingly, high-formation charge current on the first cycle extends battery cycle life by an average of 50%. Unlike elevated formation temperature, which boosts battery performance by forming a robust SEI, the cycle life improvement for fast-formed cells arises from a shifted electrode-specific utilization after formation. Apart from the widely acknowledged role of formation in governing SEI properties, we demonstrate how formation protocols determine the stoichiometry range over which the positive and negative electrodes are cycled. READ MORE