（Shipping Lithium Battery-powered vehicles）
Q.
When shipping Lithium Battery powered vehicle as UN 3171, an airline advised us that we should use ?gUN3481 Lithium ion batteries contained in equipment?h or ?gUN 3091 Lithium metal batteries contained in equipment?has applicable. ?gUN 3171 Battery-powered equipment/vehicle?h carries SP A21 which states lithium battery-powered equipment/vehicle May be assigned to UN3171. The applicable Packing Instruction 900 has a paragraph (h) where it says the lithium battery must have passed the required UN test, and that the batteries must be protected against damage and short circuits. The airline says by assigning the shipment to UN3481 or UN3091, a more adequate provision on lithium batteries spelled out in PI967 and PI970 would apply. Please guide us which instruction are we to follow. (31 Jan 10)
A.
According to SP A21, it is true that lithium battery-operated equipment/vehicles can be assigned to UN3171. Hybrid vehicles where internal combustion engines are also installed is directed to be assigned to UN3166. However, if the dangerous goods in question is only lithium batteries, thence assignment to UN3481 or UN3091 would be more appropriate. UN also had noticed this gap in the regulation and this was recognized at the ICAO DGP and the UN Subcommittee. The ICAO DGP took the first step by adding a new SP A182 to the 2011-2012 edition of the Technical Instructions that will require that equipment that contains only lithium batteries must be assigned as UN3481 or UN3091. The UN Subcommittee is going down a similar path and is working on changes for the 17th revised edition.
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