Transportation: Shipping and Transporting batteries to assemble your mobile phone

After lithium-ion pouch cells are made, they are packaged up for the next part of the supply chain: transportation. The cells are shipped to the mobile phone manufacturing facilities for assembly. Transporting lithium-ion cells and batteries creates new challenges for many stakeholders including safety scientists, packaging and shipping companies, cargo carriers, and manufacturers. Safety scientists investigate the safest way to package and ship batteries.

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Engage

Engage with the supply chain

Pictured below is a map of manufacturing locations for most of the world’s lithium-ion batteries.

Zoom and pan around the map to gather information in the dots at different locations.

Approximately how many lithium-ion batteries are manufactured in each country each year?

Asset: Lithium-ion Cell Manufacturing

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Below is a map of manufacturing locations for most of the world’s mobile phones.

Consider this: You are the director of a mobile phone factory in southern India. Which country would you prefer to supply your lithium-ion batteries? Why?

Did you say the European Union or China? Why would these suppliers be a good fit for your mobile phone manufacturing?

Once batteries are manufactured and tested, they must be transported all around the world to be added to the devices they will power. What might you anticipate as a challenge with this part of the supply chain?

Asset: Mobile Phone Manufacturing

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Explore

Explore some of the safe ways lithium-ion batteries are shipped

Compare and contrast an unsafely packaged lithium-ion battery with a safely packaged lithium-ion battery.

How many differences can you identify?

New Interactive

Asset: Transportation

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Consider this: Which approach to shipping would you prefer used to ship your new mobile phone?

There are specific requirements for safely packaging and shipping lithium-ion batteries.

Packaging and shipping batteries includes very specific demands for safe transport. The following criteria must be met:

Batteries must be no more than 30% State of Charge
Packages must be secured to protect batteries from shifting, short-circuiting, activating, and being damaged by other package contents
Packages that contain lithium-ion batteries must be clearly marked
Lithium-ion batteries outside of a device must be in a container that weighs less than 30 kg (66.14 lbs) and passes a 1.2 meter (3.94 ft) drop test
Once they meet these criteria, the phones are ready to ship!

Most mobile phones are shipped by air.

Because lithium-ion batteries can short-circuit and cause thermal runaway, they are considered dangerous goods on cargo and passenger planes by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and tightly regulated by the UN and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).