>Anyone setting cut-off at 3.6V either is using it in some insanely industrial, ludicrous application where you need to handle cases like multiple years in storage... or doesn't know how to properly design their protection circuitry.

It really depends on application, battery size and leakage. In consumer world of electronics for example there’s an often requirement to make sure device turns on after being on a shelf for 1/2 - 2 years.

Then when you do the math it ends up needing to set the limit to 3-3.6v.

>The margin is already there at 3.0V. You can still recharge batteries discharged below 3.0V. It just becomes dicey below ~2.5V.

The margin isn’t big enough for some products. Furthermore some of the more leading edge batteries (in terms of energy density) have higher leakage which requires having more margin.

^^ this