A British engineer has DIY’d his own electric vehicle (EV) battery using lithium batteries from discarded vapes.
Twenty-seven-year-old Chris Doel collected and stripped the rechargeable lithium batteries from 500 disposable vapes returned to and donated by a local vape shop.
It took him six months to extract the batteries from the vapes and assemble them in a 3D printed case to make the massive battery pack.
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Documenting the process on his YouTube channel, Doel installed his vape-powered battery in a 2007 G-Wiz he purchased for £800.
It ran for two hours, covering a distance of 29km—powered entirely by the vape batteries.
“I was speaking with a colleague about how I wanted to power a vehicle, but because EVs have such enormous batteries, I thought it was never going to be possible,” Chris told news agency SWNS.
“My colleague came up with the genius idea of using the G-Wiz. It’s pretty much the only car out there with a 48v battery, (meaning) the power-wall would work with it.”
After ticking the required legal paperwork and purchasing liability insurance against potential flammability, Doel’s test drive proved successful.
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Doel describes himself as “the engineer equivalent of a mad scientist that loves building stuff that straight up shouldn’t exist”.
Disclaimer: Energy Source & Distribution does not encourage the use of vapes for vaping or powering EVs.
