MAKE YOUR OWN TESLA- STYLE BATTERIES

Lithium-ion batteries make almost every item of consumer technology possible. Compared to lead-acid or lithiumpolymer, lithium-ion is lighter, lasts longer, and is more energy-dense. That last trait in particular is how we arrived at electric cars that can go 320 km on a single charge. If you open a Tesla, you’ll see that its batteries are made up of thousands of shotgun-shellsize cells known as 18650s. They’re ubiquitous, relatively cheap, and perfect for powering a DIY electric bike or skateboard. But assembling those cells into a battery requires spot-welding. Easily done at Tesla’s 511 000 m2 Gigafactory, not so much in the average garage. Now, an engineer has built a bracket system that makes assembling the cells into a battery nearly idiot-proof. Vruzend (pronounced vroo-zend) end caps fit on 18650s (a two-pack costs ±R200 on Amazon), and snap together like LEGO. The ±R400 base kit comes with 60 caps, plus bus bars, wire clamps, and zip ties. A DC charger and battery-management system to control the voltage while charging are another ±R660. Add in wire strippers, a crimping tool, a basic soldering kit, and a few Youtube tutorials, and you can go from zero to building that electric bike. Too easy? Scale up to a car. Appalachian State University has built a solar-power vehicle using Vruzend connectors on thousands of 18650 cells. We, however, suggest starting with a more approachable project, such as a custom phone charger.