Technology

59495 readers

3081 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

816

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

submitted 2 weeks 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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] EvilBit@lemmy.world 50 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I’m not a vape user, but the model is the kind of thing that just makes me so angry.

In a world that makes sense:

small, mostly metal vape chassis
rechargeable, replaceable battery
built-in glass reservoir with charging valve
vape juice sold in medium to large recyclable cans with standard interface to the charging valve

In a world where Profit is God (the real world):

disposable chassis
disposable battery
if it’s refillable at all, it’s via non-recyclable, mixed material, mostly plastic, proprietary cartridges and you can save 5% if you subscribe online for refills, 10% if you pay yearly, $5 credit if you refer a friend on social media using hashtag #smoovape
probably gives you turbo cancer because the juice is made in a repurposed Freon plant that was inadequately converted and they just don’t answer the phone when the FDA or EPA call

[–] BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

We used to have a great vape market for those types of vapes. Since 2020 state and fed government has rinsed the market “for the kids” and basically created what we see now, a market of 98% disposable sold by overseas companies. Before that there were countless brands making batteries, tanks, etc. now a lot of smoke shops don’t even sell refillable vapes or liquid.

[–] Steak@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah it's a shame. I've been vaping for 14 Yeats now and seen the whole story unfold. It really sucks.

[–] LucidBoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

devil told me howda get rich quick numba is 666

Edit: It's a Yeat (rapper) reference, get over yourselves guys.

[–] acid_falcon@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

... What? I used to smoke a pack a day, now I just vape. I've never seen a smoke shop that doesn't sell juice

[–] hex@programming.dev 4 points 2 weeks ago

Different legislation in different places. My country banned flavours, but they still sell disposables somehow.

[–] BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

My local shop has about 3 full 6 foot wide floor to ceiling bookcases of just disposables. Then there’s one shelf with one brand of juices and about 7 options.

[–] anamethatisnt@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I think part of it is something else - ease of use and ease of access.
The "world that makes sense" product exists already:
https://www.elementvape.com/box-mod-kits

While I was vaping I mixed my own liquids though, as the cost savings was immense and I could easily lower the nicotine mg/ml on my own until I quit it altogether.

[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Can't buy nicotine from the wholesalers anymore to do that in the US. Feds made it illegal.

[–] anamethatisnt@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, they had started limiting what you could buy in Sweden as well. My last time mixing I bought a silly amount of 18mg/ml 10ml strong menthol bottles and large 70/30 PG/VG bottles and ended up with my own 3mg/ml mixture that still tasted menthol, although not as overwhelmingly so.

[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Stingy on letting you make your own vape but happy to let you stuff your lip with snus. Typical Sweden.

[–] anamethatisnt@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

EU is behind the restrictions for vaping liquids, not Sweden. :)
https://health.ec.europa.eu/tobacco/product-regulation/electronic-cigarettes_en

[–] YarHarSuperstar@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

You totally can. I don't know exactly what the laws are because it's intentionally not clear but it's the same process as before, order from a diy website, it comes in the mail, make your stuff at home. I think the difference is that it's harder for websites to get the license to sell it but there are still some sites out there.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I don't vape nicotine, so those sorts of things are basically out of my reach. I wish I lived in a legal state and I could get liquid refill bottles.

[–] hex@programming.dev 6 points 2 weeks ago

The first thing you described is literally what we used to have. God I miss the good old days of vaping.