The Hawaii battery situation

You can't ship big batteries to Hawaii. We can.

Federal law treats large lithium batteries as hazardous cargo: they are banned as cargo on passenger planes, capped at 160Wh in your luggage, and tightly regulated for everything else. That's why so many listings quietly say "does not ship to HI."

Battery Bill's ships them the right way: by ocean freight, packed and documented to the federal rules, ordered a season ahead so they're already on our shelves. Call or come in, and we'll walk you through what's in stock and what we can order in.

How your generator actually gets here
FACTORY WEST COAST PORT 2,500 MILES OF OCEAN · WEEKS OUR STORE YOU PICK UP SAME DAY

We order a season ahead, so the slow part of this line is already behind your purchase.

What that means when a storm forms

Three things you will never wait on.

No shipping window

What's on the shelf goes home with you today, seen running before you pay.

No freight surprise

No last-minute freight cost added at pickup, and no listing that says "does not ship to HI."

A restock you can count on

When a watch empties the shelves, our resupply is already moving, and the waitlist hears first.

Not sure what size?

Use our sizing calculator.

Pick what you refuse to lose in an outage and it points you at the right class of unit. Honest answer: sometimes it's the smaller one.

Open the calculator
Don't see it on the shelf?

Ask us to order it in. We handle the shipping part.

If the unit you want isn't in stock, we can order it in on our freight, under our hazmat compliance, and call you when it lands. You pick it up at the store, checked and ready.

RULE 01

We handle the freight

Your order rides our surface freight with our documentation. You never touch a hazmat form.

RULE 02

Pickup is in store

Orders are collected at Kalihi or Hilo. We don't ship door to door, and that's what keeps it legal and affordable.

RULE 03

Honest timelines

We tell you the real arrival window before you pay, not after. Ocean freight is measured in weeks, so order ahead of the season.

RULE 04

The storm rule

Once a tropical storm watch is issued, sailings pause and it's shelf stock only. The time to order is before the season, not during the warning.

Resource center

The actual rules, if you want to read them.

We didn't make this stuff up. Lithium battery transport is federally regulated, and the rules are why "free 2-day shipping" quietly skips Hawaii. Here are the primary sources, in plain terms:

49 CFR § 173.185

The federal shipping regulation

The DOT rule that sets the packaging, marking, and transport requirements for every lithium battery shipment in the country.

Read the regulation (eCFR) →
PHMSA

Why they can't fly as air cargo

The federal rule that prohibits lithium ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft. It's the reason big power stations cross the Pacific by ship.

PHMSA lithium battery rules →
FAA PackSafe

Why you can't fly one home

Passenger limits: up to 100Wh flies freely, 101 to 160Wh needs airline approval, over 160Wh is forbidden. Every solar generator we sell is far over that line.

FAA PackSafe battery limits →
FAA · Travelers

Flying with the small stuff

Power banks and spare batteries go in your carry-on, never checked bags, with how to figure your battery's watt hours.

Airline passengers and batteries →
Forbidden on passenger aircraft

Every solar generator on our shelves is many times over the FAA's passenger ceiling, so none of them can fly home in anyone's luggage. They came to Hawaii the slow way, and they're already here.

And we're a service center, not just a shelf. Bring us the battery questions the rules create:

Sizing help, no charge Order-in requests and quotes Battery recycling drop-off Battery testing Warranty support after the sale
A different story entirely

The E10 doesn't ship. It arrives.

The Anker SOLIX E10 is a whole-home backup system, not a box you carry out. It's sized to your electrical panel, quoted as a project with delivery and setup, and it's running live in our Kalihi showroom right now. Come see what "the power never went out" looks like.

See the E10 in store
Anker SOLIX E10 whole-home backup unit