perryb67

Terry and I will be making one more trip to her homeland (Austria, Czech Republic) to ride the countryside this June. We'll be arriving in Amsterdam and traveling across Germany to visit her cousin, to Saltzburg/Halstatt/Donau, to her cousins in the Czech Republic (Mraktin near Telc), back to Germany, and finally back to Amsterdam for the flight home.

I'm getting older and find myself not as strong as before, so will be more comfortable with a Bafang on my QNT trike, and Terry will be riding a Tern S2 . Terry and I have always been able to switch back and forth between trikes/bikes and the Tern will be our workhorse.

While the trike/bike will ship easily, the 500w batteries MUST be shipped by ground.

• Has anyone here actually shipped their batteries by ground both ways?
  
  
• Who did you use to receive the shipment in Europe?
  
  
• What was the timeframe from shipping till they received the batteries?
  
  
• Were there any issues?

We've already shipped items back from Europe using UPS. It's finding a place to ship the batteries to and the timeframe that may be the issue.

Thanks,

Perry

2old

The only way I've found to ship a battery with more than 300w/h domestically (and only by ground) is to locate a "HAZMAT broker", and the shipper will pick it up there. Haven't been able to find one closer than 100 miles away. I started a thread asking if anyone had success with this, but no response. Good luck shipping internationally.

tomtomtom123

You could potentially ship lithium ion by air, but your batteries and packaging needs specific requirements.
https://www.fedex.com/downloads/share...yFlowChart.pdf
The flowchart seems have different rules for different conditions:

• Overall capacity greater or less than 100Wh and individual cell capacity greater or less than 20Wh
• batteries by themselves, packed with equipment, or contained in equipment

batteries under 100Wh are the most lenient. Above 100Wh and by itself has more requirements. Contained in equipment is more lenient. Depending on the case, you might need to declare cargo aircraft only. The most strict cases require UN packaging and dangerous goods surcharge. The most lenient cases don't have extra surcharges or packaging requirements other than a strong packaging and a lithium battery label.

https://www.fedex.com/en-us/service-...w-to-ship.html
Dangerous good surcharge for international class 9 by FedEx Priority is:
A special handling fee will be assessed per shipment at the greater of $75.50 or $0.41 per pound.

Here is information from IATA
https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/...guidelines.pdf

Also, you should look at the manufacturer's website for a certificate of the battery, showing that it passes UN test regulations, and the overall and cell capacities. The IATA PDF says you don't need to provide the certificate, but I think it's better to have it so that you know exactly what's in the battery and in case the shipper wants to see it before accepting your package.

Also there seems to be a few countries that prohibits the shipment of any lithium ion batteries that are packed by themselves (not with equipment or contained in equipment) Lithium Ion Batteries – UN 3480 Packing Instructions 965 Section IA, IB
https://images.fedex.com/us/services/...imitations.pdf

From what I remember on the FedEx shipping website, the form has a section for dangerous goods. You go through the dropdown menu and select Lithium Ion, and then the UN and PI numbers. I never tried to ship lithium ion batteries by FedEx so I all of this information could be incorrect. It's just what I found after 30 minutes of searching Google.

(I just went to the FedEx website and selected Inaccessible Dangerous Goods through a business account, and it gives me around $50 surcharge between US and Europe. For the lenient cases with below 100Wh or 20Wh per cell and contained or with equipment, there was no charge)

You can find the dangerous goods labels on eBay, or maybe ask your local FedEx depot if they provide the labels. Also, you should call the FedEx dangerous goods hotline.

2old

ebikesca sells 36V batteries which are 96 wh or so and AFAIK can be shipped by air; they are modular and can be combined to make a larger battery easily. I assumed you already had your batteries and they're larger than 100 wh.