Li 3 VO 4 shows great potential as an intercalation/ de-intercalation type anode material for energy-storage devices. Morphology tailoring and surface modification are effective to enhance its lithium storage performance. In this work, we fabricate carbon coated Li 3 VO 4 (C@LVO) rods by a facile morphology inheritance route. The as-prepared C@LVO rods are 400-800 nm in length and 200-400 nm in diameter, and orthorhombic phase with V 5+. The unique core-shell rods structure greatly improves the transport ability of electrons and Li +. Such C@LVO submicron-rods as anode materials exhibit excellent rate capability (a reversible capability of 460, 438, 416, 359 and 310 mA h g −1 at 0.2, 1, 2, 5 and 10 C, respectively) and a high stable capacity of 440 and 313 mA h g −1 up to 300 cycles at 0.2 and 5 C, respectively.