If you are unfamiliar with the dangers of transporting lithium batteries, this video is an outstanding review of the issues at hand:
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_c6bRPdO_8
On September 18, 2015, the US Department of Transportation (DOT), including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) held a public meeting to discuss recent DOT initiatives as well as FAA testing results regarding lithium batteries in air transport and solicit public comments on ways to ensure lithium batteries are safe for transport by air. The session covered the following topics; 1) the capability of aircraft systems to handling incidents involving lithium batteries; 2) the potential risk of transporting lithium batteries vs. possible mitigating strategies, and
3) the need to use multiple mitigation strategies.
The FAA Tech Center then presented test results on lithium ion cells and batteries. In particular, the testing protocols were designed to determine the composition of gases and the pressure release during a thermal event involving lithium ion cells. Tests monitored the volume of hydrogen gas produced vs State of Charge as well as the size of a possible pressure pulse. Possible mitigating strategy suggestions that resulted from the Multi-discipline meetings included; 1) the development of packaging performance criteria; 2) a Safety Risk Assessment by aircraft operators; 3) reduced or limited battery state of charge (SOC) when transporting; 4) prohibition of lithium batteries as cargo by air, and 5) removal of exceptions for small batteries.
DOT encouraged the public to submit written comments to the Public Docket (DOT-OST-2015-0169). The Docket remained open until September 28, 2015. The DOT indicated they would hold a second public meeting in early October to discuss comments received to date.