Despite the wide availability of both characterization and electrochemical performance data related to the SEI, quantitatively correlating the baseline electrolyte chemistry with key performance indicators is known to be a challenging task. Well-known examples of experimentally fairly established yet quantitatively not explained trends include the sensitivity of cycling performance with respect to specific electrolyte additives such as fluorethylene carbonate (FEC) or vinylene carbonate (VC), the dependence of the capacity fading rate on temperature and on the state of charge, the dependence of the first-cycle irreversible capacity on the active surface area, and the sensitivity of electrochemical properties to the crystal orientation and the crystallinity of the electrode. But instances where these trends have been rigorously addressed within a first-principles computational framework are rare, and a mechanistic framework allowing the systematic derivation of these experimental results is still lacking. Thus, SEI formation provides an overall ideal case study for the exploration and critical assessment of the predictions that can be made on the basis of our methods. In this work, we use rs@md to map gas-phase energy barriers of SEI formation reactions to liquid phase reaction rates. This mapping is particularly motivated by the importance of medium effects on bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions involving ions and protic solvents. We show that the effective formation rates transition from an activation limited reaction rate to a diffusion and electro-migration limited reaction rate within a time-scale of few ∼ ns. In particular, we focus on the effect of the gas-phase reaction barriers of the initial charge transfer reaction and show that charge transfer rates within the order of ∼ ps -1 imply the onset of electro-migration and diffusion limited reaction rate within a time-scale of few ∼ ns. Furthermore, we show that the formation of coordinating structures of Li + and negatively charged ethylene carbonate (EC) radicals is effectively a limiting factor in the initial stage of SEI growth reactions.