E-Bike Batteries and Worldwide Travel / Flights

it depends on the kind of battery, most ebikes these days use lithium ion, no? lithium batteries which are handled/classified from a regulatory perspective by IATA - DGR (dangerous goods regulations). For purposes such as e-bikes they are not classified as vehicles and fall under the typical regulations for flying with lithium batteries. Specifically they are classified as devices in equipment (same as personal electronic devices - PED's - like tablets, laptops, etc); spare batteries not in equipment are treated a little differently. The limitations for lithium batteries go by mass of lithium or more commonly the Wh (watt hours). the current size limit is 160Wh, and anything between 100 and 160 Wh requires airline approval.

relevant links:

https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Documents/passenger-lithium-bat…

https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/more_info/?hazmat=7

out of curiosity, i pulled up the Shimano STEPS system, those have batteries over 400Wh (all models), so any bike equipped with that can't be flown with.

I believe the FAA rules are based on the IATA regulations. considering how "new" the e-bike segment is i can't say i'm surprised the regulations aren't up to date.

for as much as the bike industry is pushing ebikes (from a marketing perspective), i think part of the regulatory/shipping/flying aspect needs to be addressed at least partially addressed by them as well.

did some googling, Bike Flights can ship Class 1 and Class 3 ebikes, but they have to be packed by someone with a hazmat certification edit: the hazmat cert is only required if you want to ship the battery in the bike. you can ship it with the battery removed, and then ship the battery separately (but again, there are restrictions around this)

https://www.bikeflights.com/electric-bicycle-shipping

i checked with a friend who works in the industry, one of their pro's travels with e-bikes and they ship the battery separately.

I have an idea...DONT BUY AN E-BIKE!

Yup.

All I hear is elitist lazies trying to whine about not being able to bring their mo-ped on a plane. What they should be realizing is that the first word of "Passenger Flight" is a big tip off.

This is going beyond pissing and moaning about first world problems. Plus, if you're elite enough to fly halfway around the world with a new fangled piece of $3-6k technology, you need to have the financial means to ship that watersauce scooter expedited freight or shut your opulent whiny pie hole. :D

I almost said the same thing lol. Not trying to put anyone down, but if you want to race in far flung destinations you have already proven to have a pretty massive commitment to this whole cycling thing, why not just race a normal bike? Im thinking there are probably a lot more opportunities globally to race normal bike vs. Ebike.

Long story short: ebikes rule, money=power.

I thought this thread was about eeb batteries? Not educating the ignorant and enduro

If you come to the UK with a Giant ebike sans battery, we can rent you one

And if you're traveling within Europe (I assume US/Canada) then just drive. Its much nicer and more often than not takes a similar time to flying... More importantly, because you're traveling overland you don't have to be so concerned about your batteries.

Bike manufacturers need to do 100w stackable batteries instead of single 500w+ ones.
Solved.

I seem to recall an industry insider mentioning that some of the battery/motor companies and maybe large bike companies were looking in to offering 'rentable' batteries for cross-oceanic customers. I don't think there were any specific details, but it would be something like registering your system with Bosch and then being able to fly to Europe and rent a battery from a Bosch distribution centre (through a bike shop most likely) and then returning it before flying back.
This is not an e-bike specific problem, as lots of new tech is using bigger and bigger batteries as they become more efficient and stable (e.g. power tools, drones). Many of these new batteries are safer than old ones (which are what the rules are based on) so there is a chance we may see some push from big companies like Bosch and DJI to allow more transport of 'safe' large batteries.