Shipping electric scooters and e-bikes (lithium batteries, UN3556)

An electric scooter, e-bike, or any self-propelled vehicle with a lithium-ion battery installed is a regulated dangerous good—you cannot drop it in a plain box and buy a normal label. The whole vehicle, with the battery inside it, ships as a single dangerous-goods article. Domestic US ground is comparatively light-touch, but international and air shipments are full dangerous goods: a declaration, correct marks and labels, compliant packaging, and a carrier that accepts the commodity on that lane.

The most common mistake is treating a scooter as “battery contained in equipment” (UN3480/UN3481). A vehicle is specifically carved out of those entries. A lithium-ion battery-powered vehicle is UN3556, “Vehicle, lithium ion battery powered” (UN3557 for lithium metal, UN3558 for sodium ion). As of the 2026 regulations—IATA DGR 67th edition for air, plus IMDG (sea) and ADR (road)—these vehicle entries apply across modes. The older catch-all UN3171 now covers only non-lithium battery-powered vehicles and battery-powered equipment, so guides that still file e-scooters under UN3171 are out of date. Packing Instruction 952 governs UN3556.

Apply the Class 9 lithium battery label (model 9A)—the one with the battery group image—not the plain Class 9 “miscellaneous” label. The 2026 rules (Special Provision 384) assign label 9A to UN3556. Mark the package with the UN number and proper shipping name: UN3556, Vehicle, lithium ion battery powered. Do not apply the rectangular Lithium Battery Mark—that mark is only for smaller Section II battery shipments and must never appear on a battery over 100 Wh. Air shipments require a full Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods consistent with the marks and labels on the box.

For transport by air, a vehicle whose battery exceeds 100 Wh must be offered at a state of charge no greater than 30% of rated capacity (or an indicated battery capacity not over 25%). This became mandatory on 1 January 2026 unless the relevant authority approves otherwise. In practice: discharge the scooter before an air shipment. Most Levy-class scooter batteries (36V, 10–13 Ah ≈ 375–470 Wh) are well over 100 Wh, so this always applies.

The battery has to be installed in the vehicle. Do not pack a loose or spare battery in the same box—that is a separate shipment (UN3480) and is often prohibited as air cargo on passenger aircraft. The battery must be UN38.3 tested and must not be damaged, defective, swollen, or subject to a recall—those are forbidden for normal transport entirely.

UN3556 by air needs an approved dangerous-goods account or contract with the carrier and a DG-trained person preparing the paperwork—it does not go out on a standard self-serve label. FedEx, UPS, and DHL each set their own acceptance rules per origin/destination lane and aircraft type, so confirm the commodity is accepted to the specific country before you book. The label and declaration alone do not guarantee acceptance: charge level, packaging condition, and lane eligibility all matter.

ShipWave gives you hooks to route these correctly instead of catching them at the dock. Automation rules expose has_battery and has_dangerous_goods conditions, so you can auto-route lithium SKUs to a DG-capable carrier or hold_for_review (see Automation rules v2). Per-country restricted HS code prefixes block a quote before checkout when a scooter cannot ship to a destination (see Configuring DDP and broker accounts). Dangerous-goods document generation and the lithium-battery flag live in the optional hazmat module.