What Are the Tips for Safe Air Transportation of Lithium Batteries?

1. Portable lithium battery

Laptops, mobile phones, cameras, watches, personal portable electronic devices and spare batteries etc., containing lithium batteries not exceeding 100Wh (watt hours) can be carried as hand luggage on board.

Generally speaking, the rated energy of lithium batteries for mobile phones is mostly 3 to 10Wh; the energy of lithium batteries for SLR cameras is mostly 10 to 20Wh; the energy of lithium batteries for camcorders is mostly 20 to 40Wh; the energy of lithium batteries for laptops is 30 to 100Wh. Therefore, lithium batteries in mobile phones, commonly used camcorders, single-lens reflex cameras, and most laptop computers and other electronic devices usually do not exceed the 100Wh limit.

2. Lithium Batteries that are restricted to carry

With the approval of the airline, electronic equipment containing lithium batteries exceeding 100Wh but not exceeding 160Wh can be carried on board. Each passenger cannot carry more than two such spare batteries, and they cannot be consigned.

Equipment that may contain more than 100Wh lithium batteries, such as news media equipment, film and television production equipment, performance props, medical equipment, electric toys, electric tools, tool boxes, etc are not allowed to carry on board.

3. Lithium batteries that are prohibited from being carried

It is prohibited to carry or consign large lithium batteries or electronic equipment exceeding 160Wh.

4. Protective measures for spare lithium batteries

Spare batteries must be individually protected to prevent short circuits (put them in the original retail packaging or insulate the electrodes by other means, such as sticking tape on the exposed electrodes, or put each battery in a separate plastic bag or protective box).

5. Judgment method of rated energy of lithium battery

If the rated energy Wh (watt hour) is not directly marked on the lithium battery, the rated energy of the lithium battery can be converted as follows:

(1) If the nominal voltage (V) and nominal capacity (Ah) of the battery are known, the value of the rated watt-hour can be obtained by calculation:

Wh = V x Ah; the nominal voltage and nominal capacity are usually marked on the battery.

(2) If only milliampere hour (mAh) is marked on the battery, divide the value by 1000 to get ampere hour (Ah).

For example: the nominal voltage of a lithium battery is 3.7V, the nominal capacity is 760 mAh, and its rated watt-hours are: 760 mAh / 1000 = 0.76Ah; 3.7Vx0.76Ah=2.9Wh.