In a surprising turn of events, e-cigarette batteries are now being used by Ukrainians to help in the war efforts. According to the Independent, many volunteers report turning to e-cigarette batteries to power drones used to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.
The batteries are being used in release systems for drones that are designed to carry and drop items. Mostly these are used to carry and drop grenades in war zones and carry medical aids in emergencies. The release systems that use these batteries are printed using 3D printers.
According to information reaching our desk, many volunteers trying to help in the war effort have been forced to be innovative due to the rising prices of lithium batteries in the global market. The war has made it even worse for Ukrainians as airports and sea ports have been closed by the war cutting the supply of the much-needed batteries and other materials from the international market. The volunteers thus opted to go for lithium batteries found in disposable e-cigarettes. They have even set up drop-off bins across Kyiv for easy collection of these materials. This helps provide the much need batteries even when the supply chain is constrained.
According to Maksym Sheremet, a Ph.D. student and one of the volunteer engineers involved in repurposing e-cigarette batteries, “Lithium batteries used to cost $1 each but went up five times in price adding significantly to our costs.” This forced the people of Ukraine to find other ways to build drones for war efforts. One of these methods is to harvest lithium batteries from disposable e-cigarettes and then use them to power the drones they build. While this repurposing was born out of necessity due to supply chain problems for lithium batteries many agree that it is an environment-friendly method of disposing of batteries in e-cigarettes.
Meanwhile, in Kyiv, a team of about 60 engineers has teamed up to work on the drone project. About half of these work on the e-cigarette battery plan. Reports indicate that the team has built over 4,000 dropping systems for drones in the last four months alone. By repurposing locally available materials and repurposing commercially available drones the team has been able to greatly cut down on the cost of sending drones to the front lines.
Being outgunned by Russia which has more boots on the ground and sophisticated weapons Ukrainians have to rely on drones to help deliver killer grenades and direct the line of fire. This has helped slow down the advancing Russians and, in some cases, completely halt their advancement. As the war continues the world expects to see Ukrainians become even more innovative.
