“Electric bike” made from 130 used vapes

Most disposable vape batteries are actually rechargeable. And here is another proof of this.

Disposable vapes seem like a stupid joke for the age of consumerism. Many (or even most) of them contain rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, but manufacturers prefer to sell new disposable ones rather than offer long-life devices.

To highlight how wasteful this practice is, and at the same time create an interesting project, blogger Chris Doel collected 130 disposable vape batteries (the ones that hold 3500 puffs with 20400 batteries), found at a music festivaland turned them into a 48-volt electric bike battery. According to the inventor's calculations, its capacity reaches 1.5 kW.

A pile of empty aluminum vape casings, as well as e-liquid and batteries that have leaked out of them.

In this YouTube video you can see the design of an electric bike and how it runs on vape batteries.

If YouTube doesn't work, here are the screenshots:

Vape batteries were placed in several identical cases, connected to each other, and then the successor was connected into two stacks.

For clarity: Don't do this at home. Do not clamp disposable vape cartridges in a vice to remove the components. Do not empty any vapes that still have liquid left in them. Do not connect batteries together using a balance board, grouping them together using 3D printed holders and then connecting them in series. Don't put too much force on the rear hub on a standard bike frame. Doel has a fire extinguisher on his desk, and he shows you what happens when two mismatched batteries momentarily touch—smoke, coughing, and a lot of lecturing.

When you see Doel reach speeds of up to 50 km/h, ride 33 kilometers on his vape battery-powered bike, and barely pedal at all, the point of the experiment becomes clear. We throw away a bunch of batteries that could do a lot of other things. Doel estimates the cost of upgrading his electric bike at about $60 for filaments, wires, components for the control unit and other consumables for assembly.

Most vape batteries are rated to last at least 300 cycles, which isn't that long. On the other hand, standard electric bike and scooter batteries are rated for about the same number of cycles.

Doel was keen to raise awareness of the problem of the electronic waste we leave behind. In the UK alone, 260 million are thrown away every year. Every e-cigarette contains a lithium-ion battery, which is still usable, but if not disposed of, it can be harmful to the environment. But batteries can not be recycled, but reused!

A worthy idea, what do you think?