Canada_2024_Battery_DGTA_ORG_cleancopy
If you liked the highlighting use this link: Canada_2024_Battery_DGTA_ORG.
Thank you to DGTA Director Jay Johnson from J&J and for this article from Transport Canada inspecting compliance for lithium battery transport and whether they indeed meet the UN38.3 testing requirements. I will summarize some of the findings in this post — you can download the reprint of the pdf that has my highlighting on it or you can get a clean one.
The study examined OEM and third-party lithium-ion batteries (which they abbreviate “LiB” in the report) for power tools and smartphones, testing their compliance with UN 38.3 transportation safety requirements. Key findings:
Safety Issues:
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50% of tested third-party batteries failed UN 38.3 testing (these are “knock off” — wait — that’s an impolite word…. those are not original equipment mfg batteries they are from “other” vendors)
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All OEM batteries passed testing (at least that’s good news)
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Higher voltage (20V) third-party batteries were more likely to fail
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Failed batteries often resulted in fires and explosions during short circuit and overcharge tests
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Micro CT scans revealed dangerous defects in some third-party cells, including misaligned electrodes that could cause short circuits
Transport Compliance Problems:
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All three battery sets shipped by air violated regulations: Failed UN 38.3 testing -AND- Exceeded the 30% state of charge limit for air transport -AND- were not packaged/marked/labeled properly.
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16 of 24 battery sets had incorrect packaging/labeling
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10 sets were completely undeclared as dangerous goods
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Sellers were unable or unwilling to provide required UN 38.3 test documentation
They also found that “third party” manufacturers had much higher risk indicators:
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Were cheaper than OEM versions
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Weighed less than OEM versions
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Had typos or misaligned text on labels
This was quite a report. You can view it for yourself. I wonder if the FAA or DOT has done these kind of studies (basically go online and start ordering battery shipments and then see what happens). If you find anything you can email me at the Dangerous Goods Trainers Association, Inc — jim@dgta.org and we will publish it.