Section 2 · Topic 8
Transportation and Shipping Regulations
Lithium cells move under international dangerous-goods rules as Class 9, and shipment is conditional on passing one qualification: UN 38.3.
UN 38.3 is a sequence of eight tests simulating the stresses of air, sea, rail, and road transport. The article must survive each in turn — no fire, rupture, leakage, or disassembly, with voltage retention above the specified threshold — before it can legally ship.
The Revision 8 updates
The eighth revised edition and its first amendment changed several requirements that affect qualification planning. The charge/discharge conditioning applied to rechargeable cells before testing was reduced from 50 cycles to 25, shortening the aging step. The scope was extended to cover sodium-ion batteries under provisions modelled on the lithium tests — near-identical, since sodium-ion cells are exempt from the T.8 forced-discharge test. The amendment also formalised the test summary: a defined battery test summary must be prepared and made available on request.
Pre-test conditioning 50 → 25 cycles · sodium-ion batteries brought into scope (exempt from T.8) · a standardised, on-request test summary now mandatory. The eight tests themselves are essentially unchanged.
Identification, state of charge, and packaging
Cells and batteries shipped on their own carry UN3480; those packed with or installed in equipment carry UN3481. For standalone air freight under UN3480, aviation regulations cap the state of charge at 30%, reducing transportable energy and limiting the severity of an in-flight failure.
- Classification
- Class 9 dangerous goods
- Cells / batteries alone
- UN3480
- With / in equipment
- UN3481
- Air freight SoC cap
- 30 % max (UN3480)
- Conditioning
- 25 cycles before test
Packaging must prevent terminal contact and movement — non-conductive inner containment inside rigid, UN-certified outer packaging — and the shipment carries a Class 9 hazard label, a Dangerous Goods Declaration stating UN number and packing instruction, a 24-hour emergency contact, and the retained UN 38.3 test summary, available to customs and carriers.
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