The Rechargeable Battery Association recognizes the concerns that prompted today’s decision by the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel to prohibit temporarily the transport of large lithium ion aircraft batteries on passenger planes. Lithium ion batteries weighing no more than 11 pounds may continue to be transported as cargo on passenger aircraft.
Safety remains PRBA’s No. 1 priority. PRBA plays an active role in ICAO meetings and has supported the more stringent ICAO regulations addressing the air shipment of lithium ion batteries that took effect January 1, 2013. The airline industry has announced its support of the ICAO decision, and PRBA defers to the airlines on the international rules for transporting lithium ion aircraft batteries.
As PRBA has stated before, news accounts that conflate the cargo shipments of these lithium ion batteries with large lithium ion batteries used to power aircraft are fundamentally wrong and mislead the public. Misinformation about lithium ion batteries abounds. It is absolutely critical to understand the world of difference between the millions and millions of lithium ion batteries and products containing them that are safely packaged and transported on aircraft every year and the much larger lithium ion aircraft batteries that were actively being used as a power source onboard Boeing’s Dreamliner during the recently reported incidents.
We continue to caution against a rush to judgment about the general safety of lithium ion batteries until all the facts are in and investigators in the United States and Japan can provide the answers to all the questions about what caused the Dreamliner incidents.
About PRBA
PRBA members power the consumer electronics revolution. We deliver a safe, efficient, and essential power source for portable electronic equipment such as notebook computers, cell phones, power tools, PDAs, and MP3 players, as well as hybrid and electric vehicles and containerized lithium ion battery stationary systems. PRBA members produce approximately 70 percent of the world’s lithium ion cells and account for billions of dollars in annual worldwide sales. With more than 70 members, PRBA is widely recognized as the nation’s authoritative source for information on rechargeable batteries.