Lithium-Ion Shipping and Travel Regulations: What You Need to Know

[Chris Westland]

I came across this summary of regulations for shipping batteries.  Since this issue regularly comes up in the forums, I thought it would be useful to post the article and start a new thread to accumulate any specific experiences from forum members.

Lithium-Ion Shipping and Travel Regulations: What You Need to Know

[meepmeepmayer]

Problem is, generalized rules are useless, everyone has their own specific rules. If they even follow them.

For example, the article states to put Li-Ion-Batteries into your carry-on luggage (as opposed to checked-in luggage) but the recent "every electric device bigger than a phone" ban on US flights required people to put their Laptops etc into checked-in luggage.

Specific experiences on the other hand, worth their weigh in gold.

[LanghamP]

Ever since reading about that Florida everglades crashed that happened, I think 25 years back, I think keeping big ol' lithium batteries out of airplanes is a good thing. That being said, I wish they made an exception just for me.

There are two trips this year that I plan to take, and I have been gathering some data about it.

1st trip: from the Midwest to the West coast. Cost of a clearly labeled package denoting "dangerous goods" seems to be about $80 one way according to UPS, and must be shipped ground.

2nd trip: from the Midwest to Berlin, Germany. I haven't gotten information back on this one, but presumably it'll require a combination of shipping by ground transport and by ship. Other shippers directly from the EUC manufacturers state a cost of $200-$300 from China to Europe (that seems a lot).

Any experiences you guys have would be greatly appreciated.