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

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

95 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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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (3 children)

On the other hand, I think cigarette butts are also quite polluting the environment too. So I am not sure what's worse.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Does it matter which is worse when we can take care of both problems?

No one ever talks about stopping cigarettes from being filtered. It's not as if the filter actually makes cigarettes safe. They just make them easier on your lungs as you smoke and you're less likely to get bits of tobacco in your mouth. Maybe that shouldn't be a thing?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Filters could be made biodegradable. Batteries? Probably but not in our lifetime.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Or they could just not be made at all.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago

They make vape cartridges that are used with a reusable battery. If disposable vapes were banned, they would become the more common option which is definitely better.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Ah ,yes batteries that can explode if heated are way more dangerous than tobaco ash.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

First of all, we are not talking here about ash but the cigarette filters, 4.5 trillions of it are littered every year, that contain all the toxins, are made of plastic fibers and it is not bio degradable.

https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/harmful-effects-tobacco/5-ways-cigarette-litter-impacts-environment#:~:text=Is%20cigarette%20waste%20toxic%3F,animals%20who%20eat%20cigarette%20butts.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I love that in Fallout one of the crafting materials you get from breaking down cigarettes is asbestos. Its not true of course, at least I don't think so...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Didn't know that but also exploding batteries

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Its not a competition

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Well it appears I took a jet to the finish line proably will need to look into what exactly makes cigarrete waste mor dangerous than the batteries 👍

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Volume.