BostonPocketPC

New Rules for Lithium Ion Batteries in Air Travel

I was told this by Don when he came over for a movie viewing night between the holidays with some friends and their families. Yes I have known Don for over 7 years and never met his family, until now. Anyway one conversation that came up were the new laws for traveling with lithium ion batteries. According to Safetravel.gov effective January 1, 2008, you now have to carry your spare with you and can't pack it in your suitcase (in my opinion defeats the whole purpose anyway unless you are looking to lighten your load racing through the airport. :)

Here are the new policies so be aware of them before traveling this new year:

Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

For more information on the new regulations head here:

http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html

The new rules are kind of confusing because what is permitted is based on the actual weight in grams of “equivalent lithium content.” 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours:

Under the new rules, you can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content. All lithium ion batteries in cell phones are below 8 gram equivalent lithium content. Nearly all laptop computers also are below this quantity threshold.

You can also bring up to two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold. Examples of two types of lithium ion batteries with equivalent lithium content over 8 grams but below 25 are shown below.

For a lithium metal battery, whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the limit on lithium content is 2 grams of lithium metal per battery.

Almost all consumer-type lithium metal batteries are below 2 grams of lithium metal. But if you are unsure, contact the manufacturer!

All my batteries are safe to travel with me including my large Valence slice battery. As it is my Valence battery has been pulled aside and swabbed 19 out 37 flights taken since I owned and used it. I can only imagine how much longer lines will be at security checkpoints leaving Las Vegas from CES or heading there. To my surprise there were no longer lines leaving towards Las Vegas and TSA folks kept things moving along as normal, granted I opted to leave the Valence at home. :)

News | Wireless Technology

1/6/2008 9:46:37 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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