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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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[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The bikes are very simple and the battery pack can be rebuilt. Any decent bike shop should be able to repair an orphaned e-bike.

[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Most will not repair an ebikes outside of the brand they sell. I'd ask the shop first.

[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Perhaps where you live. I recently helped a young man get an e-bike, (somewhat mentally handicapped-- we raised funds to purchase the bike to get him to have better mobility), We got him an Aventon Cargo bike. The local bike shop plainly stated they would work on any e-bike you brought in. And that that all of the area bike shops were the same.

One does not turn away a paying customer.

[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In many parts of the states they do because their insurance won't cover them working on those bikes.

[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 0 points 1 week ago

That seems like a "you" problem at the polls in your state. Not an issue here.