Lithium batteries are banned in checked luggage this year – and imported low-cost brands are a key reason for this.
(The post here covers flawed battery models, regulations, stealing data, safety risks, and the importance of branding – read until the end for the full brief.)
Lumafield conducted a study across 1,054 battery cells from a handful of different brands. Here’s a snapshot from the anode overhead for the relevant cells. Reputable brands hold strict standards and quality is drastically higher compared to wholesale Chinese brands shipping high volumes of these.
🪫A tested cell by Benkia reports a listed capacity of 9900mAh and an actual measured (tested) at 1259mAh.
Additionally, Murata (one of the tested brands that we also work with) issued a special report on their site that individual batteries of theirs are sold by retailers, which is outside of their own policy (selling direct to consumer is not what Murata’s batteries are used for – mainly embedding within end products).
So even trusted brands can be misrepresented at stores.
Why does that matter? 👇
1. Safety hazard is a real thing. Exploding batteries have hundreds if not thousands, of reported incidents already (first popularized by an early Samsung phone a decade ago, which is the brand I use daily myself)
2. Airplane regulations exist for a reason – TSA has increasingly strengthened requirements since 2001
3. I personally fly Airbus exclusively for the past 2 years – Boeing is not regulated and yet I avoid for all travels (including my upcoming Seattle trip this weekend)
4. Cheap batteries are advertised as “real products” and sold on Temu or Aliexpress, along with millions of electronic devices. The lack of regulations or safety controls globally means that cheaper products can pose security and safety risks
5. This includes additional risks outside of batteries – like USB charging cables used for data theft through keylogging or deploying malware (modified cables inserting malicious software into your phone or laptop). You can also find these in airports or cabs, and these pose higher risks than open Wi-Fis
As far as US-only manufacturing is concerned, this is an overstretched and non-scalable opportunity in the foreseeable future. But more sensitive devices, equipment, communication tools for the government, the millitary, and VIPs must definitely be built in-house.
Everything else – including consumer products – should be imported by “trusted brands”. Global companies with Asian footprint can still be vetted in various ways, from in-house quality check at the warehouses, to import scanners before shipping within the US (or Europe).
And established brands have little incentive to get caught in a scandal. Murata was founded in 1944 – erasing 80+ years of history while founded in the dawn of WWII in Japan should be an obvious lesson on how to pick production brands.
Next time you need to resupply electronics or pick a vendor, think again.
