In this paper, a resistance transfer algorithm (RTA) is proposed to transfer a known battery's resistance data to a new battery, it saves the cost of testing required for thermal modeling. Firstly, the resistance linearization process is derived based on the Arrhenius equation, and a calibration algorithm for the resistance transfer from the reference battery to the target battery is presented. Then, taking the NCM622 battery (50 Ah) as the reference battery, the RTA is performed on an NCM622 battery (51 Ah) to verify the feasibility. Three schemes are compared to explore the appropriate test number of the target battery required for RTA. Subsequently, the RTA is applied to construct the thermal model of the target battery, and the simulation of the NCM622 (51 Ah) battery temperature rise is completed. Finally, RTA is utilized for resistance transfer and temperature rise simulation at different temperatures for four different batteries to further explore the universality. The verification results demonstrate that the proposed RTA can save a significant amount of resistance testing time and the thermal model based on RTA can supply precise temperature rise prediction. In the cost-effective 4-SOC scheme, the number of resistance test points can be reduced by 55 %, the maximum error of the transferred resistance remains within 0.1495 mΩ and the maximum error of the simulated temperature rise at three ambient temperatures stays below 1.727 °C.