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Guy makes “dodgy e-bike” from 130 used vapes to make point about e-waste (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 week ago by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

101 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Disposable vapes are indefensible. Many, or maybe most, of them contain rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, but manufacturers prefer to sell new ones.

To make a point about how wasteful this practice is—and to also make a pretty rad project and video—Chris Doel took 130 disposable vape batteries (the bigger "3,500 puff" types with model 20400 cells) found littered at a music festival and converted them into a 48-volt, 1,500-watt e-bike battery, one that powered an e-bike with almost no pedaling more than 20 miles. You can see the whole build and watch Doel zoom along trails on his YouTube video.

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[–] normalexit@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago (2 children)

They are super common where weed is legal. People fly into somewhere like Denver for the weekend to catch a show. Rather than buying a reusable battery, they will get a disposable vape (and probably some gummies).

Then it ends up in the landfill or as litter. I am in favor of making these one time use electronics illegal (along with single use plastics like balloons, plastic silverware, etc.. but that is another thread)

[–] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

They aren't even disposable, so it's crazy to me how they can be sold as such.

[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, I live in legal weed state. The nearest dispensary is a mere 20 miles away. I'm not even sure they sell vapes. Flower and edibles for sure, but I have no idea if they sell vapes. (I've never been there-- weed just ain't my thing). But I still don't see any used ones tossed out. Maybe we are just neater people here and don't litter.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Come to Canada, we have weed stores on every block, like Tim Hortons but actually beneficial to the people

[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I live closer to Winnipeg than I do to my state capital. We are often referred to as "Canada Lite" by other states.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

Sounds like a win in my book!