Lithium-ion batteries spark transportation-safety debate
The lithium-ion battery quietly fuels modern life. It powers our iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and laptops. It's in the next round of electric cars coming to market. It also has a safety record peppered with fires and recalls.
By Jia Lynn Yang
July 30, 2010
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — The lithium-ion battery fuels modern life. It powers iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and laptops. It's in the next round of electric cars coming to market.
It also has a safety record peppered with fires and recalls. Now the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to toughen rules for how the batteries — and devices containing them — are shipped on cargo airplanes. If finalized, the proposed changes would require shippers to treat iPhones as hazardous materials on par with flammable paint or dry ice, with the full weight of regulation and added costs that come with that classification.
Companies such as Apple, UPS and Best Buy say they support stricter safety standards but are worried the rules could wreak havoc on supply chains. They warn the changes could raise prices for consumers. And it's a testament to the ubiquity of the lithium-ion battery that the dispute over the transportation proposal has embroiled everyone from trade partners such as Israel and South Korea to airline pilots, medical-device makers and the National Funeral Directors Association.
Lithium-ion batteries have skyrocketed in popularity because they're lighter and smaller than other batteries. More than 3.3 billion lithium-ion cells were shipped in 2008, according to industry estimates, up from 1.5 billion in 2005.
They have also been known to ignite because they contain a small amount of flammable solvent. If the batteries overheat or short-circuit, in rare cases the solvent can react and catch fire.
Tech companies such as Dell and Lenovo have issued recalls in recent years for laptop batteries at risk of overheating.
Policymakers have since turned their attention to shipments of these batteries, especially after a 2006 incident at Philadelphia International Airport when a UPS cargo plane containing lithium batteries caught fire. The National Transportation Safety Board could not determine the exact cause of the fire.
Such incidents have been enough to alarm airline pilots, however, who have taken up the cause of tightening rules with the support of Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House transportation committee.
Regulators consider any package containing a lithium-ion battery to be hazardous, but exempt small batteries, such as those contained in cellphones. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which is part of DOT, has proposed removing that exemption.
Anything containing the batteries would have to be specially packaged and labeled, and anyone shipping it would have to receive hazardous-materials training.
PHMSA would not specify when a decision is expected.
Companies say regulators should focus on better enforcement of existing rules.
New regulations could affect a massive web of companies, including manufacturers, shippers and retailers. They say costs would be staggering. UPS told PHMSA that complying with the rules would cost the company at minimum $264 million in the first year. And the company said doing so in each subsequent year would cost an additional $185 million.
The National Funeral Directors Association says the proposed regulations would affect its members because many deceased that are flown to funerals have pacemakers and defibrillators, which also contain the batteries.
Airline pilots insist regulators move forward with their proposal.
If a battery "overheats on its own and causes a fire," said Mark Rogers, director of the dangerous-goods program for the Air Line Pilots Association, "you need to make sure that situation doesn't become catastrophic."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012495429_lithium31.html
The lithium-ion battery quietly fuels modern life. It powers our iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and laptops. It's in the next round of electric cars coming to market. It also has a safety record peppered with fires and recalls.
By Jia Lynn Yang
July 30, 2010
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — The lithium-ion battery fuels modern life. It powers iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and laptops. It's in the next round of electric cars coming to market.
It also has a safety record peppered with fires and recalls. Now the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to toughen rules for how the batteries — and devices containing them — are shipped on cargo airplanes. If finalized, the proposed changes would require shippers to treat iPhones as hazardous materials on par with flammable paint or dry ice, with the full weight of regulation and added costs that come with that classification.
Companies such as Apple, UPS and Best Buy say they support stricter safety standards but are worried the rules could wreak havoc on supply chains. They warn the changes could raise prices for consumers. And it's a testament to the ubiquity of the lithium-ion battery that the dispute over the transportation proposal has embroiled everyone from trade partners such as Israel and South Korea to airline pilots, medical-device makers and the National Funeral Directors Association.
Lithium-ion batteries have skyrocketed in popularity because they're lighter and smaller than other batteries. More than 3.3 billion lithium-ion cells were shipped in 2008, according to industry estimates, up from 1.5 billion in 2005.
They have also been known to ignite because they contain a small amount of flammable solvent. If the batteries overheat or short-circuit, in rare cases the solvent can react and catch fire.
Tech companies such as Dell and Lenovo have issued recalls in recent years for laptop batteries at risk of overheating.
Policymakers have since turned their attention to shipments of these batteries, especially after a 2006 incident at Philadelphia International Airport when a UPS cargo plane containing lithium batteries caught fire. The National Transportation Safety Board could not determine the exact cause of the fire.
Such incidents have been enough to alarm airline pilots, however, who have taken up the cause of tightening rules with the support of Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House transportation committee.
Regulators consider any package containing a lithium-ion battery to be hazardous, but exempt small batteries, such as those contained in cellphones. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which is part of DOT, has proposed removing that exemption.
Anything containing the batteries would have to be specially packaged and labeled, and anyone shipping it would have to receive hazardous-materials training.
PHMSA would not specify when a decision is expected.
Companies say regulators should focus on better enforcement of existing rules.
New regulations could affect a massive web of companies, including manufacturers, shippers and retailers. They say costs would be staggering. UPS told PHMSA that complying with the rules would cost the company at minimum $264 million in the first year. And the company said doing so in each subsequent year would cost an additional $185 million.
The National Funeral Directors Association says the proposed regulations would affect its members because many deceased that are flown to funerals have pacemakers and defibrillators, which also contain the batteries.
Airline pilots insist regulators move forward with their proposal.
If a battery "overheats on its own and causes a fire," said Mark Rogers, director of the dangerous-goods program for the Air Line Pilots Association, "you need to make sure that situation doesn't become catastrophic."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012495429_lithium31.html
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