A key advantage of chloride ion battery (CIB) is its possibility to use abundant electrode materials that are different from those in Li ion batteries. Mg anode is presented as such a material for the first time and Mg/C composite prepared by ball milling of Mg and carbon black powders or thermally decomposed MgH2/C composite has been tested as anode for CIB. The electrochemical performance of FeOCl/Mg and BiOCl/Mg was investigated, demonstrating the feasibility of using Mg as anode.