this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
809 points (98.6% liked)

Technology

59161 readers
1967 users here now

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


Our Rules


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

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (18 children)

Perhaps it's odd, but I have never seen anyone use a vape in public. Nor have I seen one just lying on the ground. I maybe need to get out the forest here and visit civilization for a bit again.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Go to a nightclub sometime. Discounted vapes in the outside areas are a tripping Hazard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Ain't no night clubs within 100 miles of me. Plenty of bars, but no night clubs.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Discarded vapes? The only immediate trip hazard of tripping on discounted vapes would be the mob of people trying to buy them.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (17 replies)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (9 children)

I so so want to purchase an ebike.But the companies don't seem likely to stick around for long though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Get one from Halfords then. They'll repair any e-bike that they sell and they sell a wide variety of brands. Where I got mine from.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (2 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.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

I see your point, but I also saw Juiced Bikes go out of business last month after 15 years in the industry.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You pretty much should only buy one from a shop that has a physical location near you and can do repairs. Like everybody around me sells Trek, so if I ever got one, it'd be a Trek with a Bosch motor. Bike shops will not repair ebikes they don't sell, even though they'll repair regular bikes. And neither Trek nor Bosch are going anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Engwe has been around for some time, have one of their bikes (M20). If a part fails, you just need to send them an email, and they'll give you a price and picture of the part and they'll send it out to you. I have had to replace my rear fender and the front light once and they've arrived quite fast (to Europe). Although they aren't high quality bikes, they're priced accordingly.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 66 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Disposable vapes will be banned in the UK starting in June 2025.

Based.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Just wanted to comment that this should happen faster than in a few years... and then checked the calendar

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Still there's no reason to wait that long. Ban now the supply to the stores and full ban on 2025 if they still have stock.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

cool! in no time at all, disposable vapes will usurp cigarette butts as the #1 form of litter across the globe! but in all seriousness, god bless this guy. hopefully his example will inspire people to be slightly less careless and slightly more cognizant of how they dispose of their waste (audience laughter turns to applause)

[–] [email protected] 89 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Yeah, disposable vapes should be made illegal, not only are they lowering the bar for the access because they're cheap and accessible to minors, not only because they are an e-waste, but because it wastes valuable lithium, also those are perfectly chargeable batteries, is a bit fucked up that it's more profitable to use rechargeable lithium batteries than something disposable

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

My evil side wants them to be more popular where I live so I can collect massive amounts of lithium batteries for free

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

is a bit fucked up that it's more profitable to use rechargeable lithium batteries than something disposable

That's because the global manufacturing industries have almost exclusively gone over to lithium-ion batteries. Disposable batteries are ceasing to be commodity items. It's seriously difficult to find a D cell battery these days.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›