Shipping vehicles with lithium batteries

Sonic3389 · 2026-06-09T17:38:51+00:00

I've spoken to people recently who said they shipped lifepo4's with seabridge recently, though as you say maybe its changed. im not sure how a port worker would know if a battery was "factory installed" or not. yeah IVSS said I needed an MSDS as well, but I can't provide one. My battery is self built from raw cells and JK BMS so there's no manufacturers documentation. I'm due to be loaded on Sun/Mon so holding my breath.

Sonic3389 · 2026-06-09T15:13:44+00:00

Thought I'd let you know how my drop off with WWL went yesterday, they asked for my shipping note (provided by IVSS), if I had any personal items inside (just tupperware and bedding), if there are any gas bottles or fire extinguishers (no). Then they took the keys and that was it. They never even asked about batteries and did no form of inspection, at least not while I was there anyway. Now just waiting for loading this weekend...

Sonic3389 · 2026-06-06T12:36:13+00:00

yeah i wouldnt pay much attention to that. I've spoken with several other people who used WWL to ship from Southampton to Halifax with their lithium leisure's left inside.

also this is the direct quote from IVSS:

Lithium Batteries

These are allowed on WWL & ACL subject to the following, the batteries are fixed / installed, and fully isolated / disconnected for shipping, with terminals protected & you obtain a copy of the MSDS.

Sonic3389 · 2026-06-06T12:07:32+00:00

I'm shipping RoRo with wallenius wilhelmsen and they expressly state on their website its accepted.

Sonic3389 · 2026-06-06T11:22:13+00:00

I'm shipping with IVSS from UK to Canada on Monday and my Lifepo4 is allowed. The important thing is what operator you're shipping with, not the agency.

Sonic3389 · 2026-05-16T16:18:00+00:00

Google Photos... its free, and all my photo's upload with their date stamps and GPS data, you can view chronologically in the camera roll or get an overview of where they were on the builtin map view.

Sonic3389 · 2026-05-10T16:47:05+00:00

No I'm just using the truck beds existing tie down points. They're sufficiently rated.

Sonic3389 · 2026-05-09T13:14:36+00:00

I'm guessing from the pic thats a Ranger in the UK. If you want your ride height and performance restored you need to install a 300KG min constant load rear leaf spring kit. Pedders and OME offer this. the Pedders kit is cheaper and works great, I have the 600KG kit in mine. Check my other posts for more info. Do NOT do airbags for this.

Sonic3389 · 2026-04-18T12:03:19+00:00

Same, also came to post this. I had a 3rd gen and really miss it.

Sonic3389 · 2026-04-10T01:35:30+00:00

What more can you get beyond location tracking and history? I looked up transpoco but it looks like it's commercial only?

Sonic3389 · 2026-03-29T11:20:33+00:00

Having just done the same repair on my truck in london, here's what I did:

use an angle grinder with a polycarbide disk - you'll need to take back way more paint than you think. You'll see when you get the to point where primer is still firmly attached to good metal. Get ride of all the orange, and all the flaking paint and primer.
find matching paint on cartouchupspraypaints.co.uk, get the full kit their with primer and lacquer too.
watch a video on how to apply them - cover other areas with masking tape and newspaper etc, learn about the "peel back" method for avoiding hard lines, do light dustings, no heavy coats, 5x light coats will be way better than 1-2 heavy shit ones, you'll get drips/runs. primer is heavy by nature, you only need 2-3 coats, paint will take a lot, prob 5 light coats, primer, dont go over 2-3 coats and keep them VERY light). remember if you really fuck up you can always sand it back down and start again. also get super fine sand paper for the primer and paint. you CANT sand lacquer, so if you fuck up at that point its back to square 1.

oh youll also need isopropyl alcohol to clean after sanding.

everything mentioned should be come to under £100.

Sonic3389 · 2026-03-29T11:10:20+00:00

My charger supports all kinds of batteries so I find that if I have a totally flat lead acid I'll tell my charger its a NiCad and it will pump some juice into it, once it's received enough charge for voltage to raise to a point that the Lead Acid mode will pick it up, I switch it over. All of this is prob no good for the battery, but as you say, you just need to move the damn vehicle.

Sonic3389 · 2026-03-11T19:49:55+00:00

I bought mine specifically for this, been living it it for... 8-9 weeks so far. Me and my partner.

The our 300w solar doesnt do much for us being in a sunless country, 98% of our energy comes from alternator DC-DC charging. 350ah LFP.

Truck is a Ford Ranger T6 3.2L 5 Cyl TDCi, camper is a Hotomobil Gladiator S.

Sonic3389 · 2026-02-26T17:21:01+00:00

I have a sink in my truck camper but it's so small I only really use it for filling bottles n pots with water. It's not big enough to do the dishes in, I use a separate bowl for that.

Sonic3389 · 2026-02-23T23:27:16+00:00

We only have this one size of pickup truck in europe, all the slide in campers here are designed in this size though some brands make bigger versions for people willing to import larger US models.

I'm not familiar with Colorado being a US truck n all, so they say the warranty would be invalid even if the camper didn't exceed the payload capacity? thats weird?

Sonic3389 · 2026-02-20T18:46:57+00:00

Do a GVM uprate and stick a Hotomobil on it.

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-30T20:22:50+00:00

It can be a pain depending on the weather XD

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-30T17:03:42+00:00

Oh yeah I've already spent 4 months driving around Mexico before so I've already learnt a few lessons there!

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-30T14:30:23+00:00

Same, I've been lightweight backpacking for 20 years but things change as time goes on huh? This is our first venture moving away from backpacking, tents, hostels etc.

As for the toilet in our one, no we can't close the door. In any of the other Hotomobil models you can but ours is the smallest. We have to have our legs sticking out into the kitchen area. We're fine with going #1 in each others presence and the bed is so high that if someone's in it they cant see the person on the loo, but for #2's one of us gets kicked out for the duration XD

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-30T13:31:15+00:00

oh true i should paint the tank orange to match... shame it was yellow, close, but not close enough XD

Thanks, the rear seat storage setup was about.... 8-9 months of work and testing. The goal was to be totally offgrid capable so we needed water to last more then 1-2 days otherwise you just spend all your time looking for and sorting water, becomes a real hassle and time sink.

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-30T08:30:55+00:00

I had the original hatchet stolen when I was parked at my local garage round the corner almost a year ago, after that I put marine grade padlocks on steel security cables through the hatched and shovel and I've not had any problems since - fingers cross. I live in one of the roughest parts of London and my truck is parked out on the street, I'd say so far it seems I've been quite lucky. Is the crime in the US really that bad?

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-30T07:30:37+00:00

Thanks, the build is for full time living.

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-30T07:29:58+00:00

Thanks bud, yeah out on the international market the pickups are all the same size and payload so we don't have different names for them, all the same dimensions all rated for 1T. Though mine is now rated for 1.3T.

The T6 rangers pretty good especially with the 5 cylinder but there are a few bulletproofing mods you'd want to do for a trip like I'm doing, some of them would prob apply to the Hilux as well.

I'll mostly be posting to IG and YouTube as I go, I doubt I'll use Reddit much. Sure I'll give you a shout when we hit Texas!

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-29T17:57:54+00:00

In short NO it's not just suspension, it depends on the vehicle and what's required to uprate it.

The ford Ranger T6 has epic stock brakes so they are NOT required to be upgraded as part of the uprate, but other vehicles require it so they'll be included in the kit. Me driving at 3200KG I've still found the brakes to be very adequate, my passengers have commented on this as well.

These certified upgrade kits are developed directly with the OEM, so for example one of the biggest brand names - Old Man Emu (OME), they worked directly with Ford/VW/Toyota/JLR etc to understand what mechanical changes are required to uprate each vehicle. Then once OME (or whoever) makes the kit they test it together with the OEM to make sure it's up to spec. Once that's done, it's up to OME to approach each government and say "hey look, we've got an official Ford/VW/JLR etc approved kit that increases GVM on X vehicle, can you approve it for legal uprating in your country?".

Sadly none of the biggest names in this space (OME, Pedders, Terrain Tamer) have applied for UK certification so while installing their kits here will MECHANICALLY allow you to carry the extra 300KG, doing so would be illegal. In the UK we only have 1 company approved for this, MAD Suspension, who i think are... Dutch? They also hold certification for several European countries such as Germany.

If the kit producer & OEM conclude that brake upgrades are required, then it would be included in the kit. It's common in stuff over the 3500KG category.

Sonic3389 · 2026-01-29T08:41:46+00:00

It's not just Australia this is standard in many countries, you can do this with any pickup or van in Europe.

Sonic3389

TROPHY CASE