Featured Image Credit: Chris Doel / YouTube
More than a million disposable vapes are thrown away every single day in the UK.
Each one contains a small lithium-ion battery, the same type found in phones and laptops, and the vast majority end up in bins, on streets, or in landfills.
The problem is that the buildup of waste can pose an environmental fire hazard if the cells are damaged or self-combust.
It's a waste crisis hiding in plain sight and one YouTuber decided to do something creative about it.
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Chris Doel had already noticed the sheer volume of discarded vapes littering streets and overflowing from bins when he came up with his experiment. Previously, he successfully managed to power his house with 500 vapes.
Now, he was taking his invention on the road.
Rather than attempting to run a Tesla or a Porsche, which typically require battery packs of around 60 kilowatt-hours, Doel opted for a Reva G-Wiz. The tiny 2000s electric car weighs around 400 kilograms and produces around 17 horsepower.
The G-Wiz was famously derided as one of the worst cars ever made, largely because its early technology was considered too far ahead of its time.
But, for this experiment, its modest power requirements made it the perfect candidate.
"I'm pretty sure we can power a road-legal electric vehicle from disposable vape cells," Doel explained in the video.
Doel gathered 500 discarded vape batteries, stripped them down, and combined them into '14 3D-printed modular rows', ultimately producing a 50-volt battery pack with a theoretical capacity of around 2.5 kilowatt-hours.
Then came the moment of truth. He plugged the Frankenstein battery pack into the G-Wiz and it started.
He took it out onto the road, reaching 15mph initially before pushing up to 35mph, at which point he noticed the system was generating 10 amps of regenerative braking.
"So we're literally recharging our disposable vape batteries using gravity," he noted. "When you think of Teslas and stuff, they can 100 - 200 kilowatt. But what they can't say is that they're powered by literal recycled electronic cigarette batteries."
By the end of the experiment, the battery management system recorded a total usable capacity of around 2.1 kilowatt-hours, impressively close to the theoretical maximum of 2.5 kilowatt-hours.
Doel squeezed 18 miles out of the pack, with a maximum battery temperature of just 29 degrees Celsius throughout.
"I just can't believe this car has just accepted this crazy Frankenstein battery that I've just slapped straight in it," he explained. "Turns out, you absolutely can power your daily drive from free discarded disposable vape batteries."
Viewers were both shocked and amazed at what Doel has achieved with what was considered waste.
"Next time I see a tiny car slowing me down in traffic, I’m gonna cut it a break because it might be vape powered," one user wrote.
Another added: "This is the electrical equivalent of powering a car with used cooking oil."
A third user replied: "This guy's gonna power his entire town with vape batteries in a decade."
