Forget About Air Shipping Lithium Batteries Via Australia Post

Remember back in 2006 when lithium batteries were exploding left, right and centre? I don’t know about you, but my laptop became a notebook overnight when I realised what an exploding battery might do to my manhood. Australia Post has had a similar epiphany, albeit three years later, and are now refusing to ship anything with a lithium battery by air.

Craig Simms over at CNet has the report that the Lithium batteries are now classed as dangerous, and Australia Post is restricting how they are sent. Lithium-ion batteries can still be sent by road, so long as they are “rated for 2 grams, 100-Watt-hours or under” (whatever that means). And although most Lithium-ion batteries fit that requirement, there’s another hitch in that batteries with more than four cells are considered not safe to send, which rules out a whole heap of laptop batteries.

As CNet points out, this could have a huge knock-on effect on grey importing of electronics as well. Of course, it still seems a bit weird that Australia Post won’t let you ship the batteries by mail, even though you can still carry them with you on a passenger flight, but at least nobody loses their testicles this way…

[CNet]