WASHINGTON - 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 this year.
It also has a controversial safety record peppered with fires and recalls. Now the Department of Transportation 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 comes with that classification.
Companies such as Apple, UPS and Best Buy say they support stricter safety standards but are worried the rules go too far and 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 now 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 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, who have taken up the cause of tightening rules with the support of Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House transportation committee.
"Under existing regulations, a flight crew may not be made aware of a pallet containing thousands of lithium batteries on board the aircraft, yet a 5-pound package of flammable paint or dry ice would be subject to the full scope of the regulations," said Oberstar in a statement when the Department of Transportation first introduced its proposal in January. "That makes little sense."
Regulators consider any package containing a lithium-ion battery to be hazardous but exempt small batteries, such as those in cellphones. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, has proposed removing that exemption. Anything containing the batteries would have to be specially packaged, and anyone shipping it would have to receive hazardous-materials training.
PHMSA said it's in the middle of rulemaking and would not specify when a final decision is expected.
Companies say that regulators should focus on better enforcement of existing rules, rather than adding new ones. Industry groups say that in every battery case that has been cited as suspicious, the problem was that people were not following the rules.
The 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 each subsequent year would cost an additional $185 million.
The National Funeral Directors Association says the proposed regulations would affect them, as well, because many deceased who are flown to funerals have pacemakers and defibrillators, which contain the batteries.
Because many of the affected devices are flown around the world, the proposed rules also have raised the alarm of U.S. trade partners, worried the rules could act as an unfair trade barrier since products would be harder to ship to the U.S.
by Jia Lynn Yang Washington Post Aug. 1, 2010 12:00 AM
Lithium batteries under scrutiny
