So one of the things i didn’t fully understand was the new changes in US regulations concerning the shipping of batteries. Obviously with the dreamliner situation and the youtubes filled with battery fires, regulations have been formed and put in place for shipping all manner of lithium packs.
While i don’t still completely understand all of the rules, I did find out that if the battery is =< 300Wh it can ship UPS ground with no Dangerous Goods labels as part of a complete build.
This is important, because most of my builds are going to fall under 300 Wh. Even the SPACE CELL is around 270Wh, so builds using it can ship UPS Ground just like anything else apparently.
12S and even some 10S systems might exceed this and require Dangerous Goods labels. Even a 6S system with multiple 10Ah packs in parrallel might require one depending on how its packaged, but i suck at EE math so maybe @torqueboards or @onloop can fill in the blanks there.
Here’s the link to the UPS PDF with handy flowcharts that will tell you how to ship, label, and pack your complete builds. TL;DR flowcharts are on pages 5-8.
U.S. lithium battery regulations
Feel free to add your thoughts on shipping to this thread. I know some of you have to deal with it on a regular basis and this is an important topic for people wanting to do custom builds for continental US non-locals within UPS’s service area.
Your right. Not all US shipping companies may offer this. I haven’t checked FedEx or DHL.
UPS is limited to 100-300wH which is perfectly fine if shipped with the equipment itself. However, this is only domestic USA and ground shipping only.
Air travel rates for all countries still stand at 100wH maximum on an air flight.
I suppose the real and legal way to ship is to have everything shipped by boat in quantity and then ship via ground. Which makes shipping anything by air > 100Wh illegal. Not saying, it can’t be done but it shouldn’t be done.
I have just bought a barely used Metroboard Stealth with a 40 mile battery & it’s been sent to NZ via UPS…well, it hasn’t arrived yet but reading this has made me bit concerned!!!
Don’t worry, @Jezr. As long as they ship it via UPS Ground/barge and use a hazardous label, it should arrive just fine. They wouldn’t ship you something that they couldn’t actually get to you.
But lets back up a sec… 40 MILE BATTERY? I’d have to add 3 or four more packs in parrallel to get that kind of range. How the hell are they doing that and calling it stealth?
Ahh… it looks like its a 16Ah 10S (36v) with a pretty good sized box. I guess stealth is a relative term. Plenty of wheelbase on that deck and they’re using all of it. I really like the lights in the truck risers tho.
I had my enertion order (shipped DHL 2 days ago) get flagged as ‘dangerous goods’ in Hong Kong then returned to the sender. Anyone else experience this? What happened next?
I live in Hong Kong right now and almost all the shipping companies including the local post won’t take any kind of batteries to ship by air. They won’t even let you ship AA batteries inside a flashlight.
I read on Fedex’s website that they would take lithium batteries as long as you follow a certain procedure for packing and declaration but I have not tried that yet.
Yeah it is kind of messed up but with that being said thousands of parcels are shipped from or in transit through Hong Kong it may sometimes happen that it could slip through inspection. I would not count on that though, that’s just a thought I have.
@onloop, I assume this has recently become a big issue that you are dealing with - any information on outlook for those of us with pending orders? Will my refused (by DHL) order automatically be resent?
@emotiva
My enertion order was also just shipped last week and DHL returned it to sender due to dangerous goods also. I guess @onloop is going to have to figure out how to deal with this. If its true about what people are saying in this thread that sending batteries > 100wH is illegal to send via air, he may need to send it via boat which will probably take forever
There has been some issue with Hong Kong for the last two weeks. I wouldn’t be too worried at this stage the batteries will get sent.
The problem being that batteries are classified as dangerous goods & the laws and regulations keep changing. So there’s been some issues.
I have been assured things will go back to normal once the logistics company adopt the new & correct procedures. Ill post more later today when i get some new info.
I spent almost all of my spare time on the phone today with DHL and UPS trying to find somebody that will ship an electric skateboard with a 270 watt hour lithium ion battery pack in it.
UPS now wants HAZMAT / IATA certifications for the entire custody chain, including the people in the shop shipping the boards. This means actual training, as in you have to take classes. They mentioned something about 49CFR, i’m not sure what that is exactly, i have to look it up still. Also, its ground only and they can only be shipped via scheduled pickup, meaning a truck comes to your house or business.
DHL hazardous goods spoke to me for about 5 minutes. They simply said no, they won’t ship anything like that.
USPS basically said no and that they don’t want anything to do with that stuff either, but i was left with the feeling that there might be an in if i was certified in hazardous goods. I need to dig further into that.
I’m about to explore FedEx and will post my findings.
FedEx will ship these ridiculously over powered boards, but they will only ship them ground, and will not ship them outside of the US without certifications and training and IATA stuff.
Fed Ex requires not a lot really. It has to be shipped from an actual FedEx Express store or you have to do a scheduled pickup from your house or business. Mailboxes Etc and bullshit print shops can’t handle these, so don’t try.
The box/packaging has to be a strong, tough box, such as a wood reinforced crate or just really heavy cardboard with plenty of padding and packing inside. On the outside of the box it has to say “CONTAINS LITHIUM BATTERIES. NOT ALLOWED ABOARD AIRCRAFT OR VESSEL” meaning truck on the ground only.
So there you have it. I can ship completes within the US, and you guys can build customs for your friends and mail them within the US. For now. Who knows what will happen a month from now.
And then there’s UL. I found some interesting things out today while talking to Underwriters Laboratories today, but that’s an entirely different thread.
That doesn’t sound good. Sure hope it doesn’t have to end up going by container ship.