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Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car
- LeoPanthera 11y agoI'm really struggling not to make a "...sucks" joke. ...damn.
- themodelplumber 11y agoThis is so great. It's like watching an early 20th century period piece unfold.
- autopov 11y agoWill its propulsion system involve sucking and blowing air over a "special" airfoil to increase the air's velocity?
- jonah 11y agoMaybe they'll use vacuums to create downforce. https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/ki9rasv6uhtxqgiviixt.jpg https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/ki9rasv6uh... (It's the Chaparral 2J https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J)
- rmason 11y agoChapparal, the famous 'sucker car' was the first ground-effects race car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(cars) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(cars) So effective the sport made it illegal after just one season.
- philjohn 11y agoThe Brabham was made illegal after one race IIRC.
- Theodores 11y agoDyson do actually know a thing or two about making lightweight, high-performance electric motors plus they do actually sell product in volume. There was uproar a few years ago when Dyson moved their manufacturing out of the UK to Malaysia. I imagine that they will use their Malaysian factories too, further down the line, should the electric car product prove to be successful. I imagine that the styling and colours that Dyson will use for their car will be very different to anything that has gone on before, the result will not look like a 'normal' car. Dyson also have a loyal and rich customer base, people that trust the brand and see qualities in the brand that they would want in a car, e.g. dependability, getting the job done. The article only really cites something vague about battery R+D, that really need not imply a car. Dyson have a lot of batteries in their products and investing in that area makes sense for their product line up. Better batteries, with more power and portability, could be a major USP for them, no need for car side-project. If this were their intent, the R+D plus initial manufacturing facility would cost many millions more than this level of government grant. The sums involved in this are not huge and it could be for just 'batteries for hoovers' that they are making.
- smhg 11y agoNot meant to be negative, just another take on some of your points: * Dyson has a factory in a country with low wages. * Dyson uses modern styling in their product lines. * Dyson has a strong brand. (* Dyson knows about electrics) It sounds like you can replace Dyson with quite a lot of names. One of the human brain's strengths is pattern recognition. Wether true or not, we see patterns everywhere. But that applies to my comment too ;)
- hayksaakian 11y agoSure. How many other vacuum companies are also making electric cars?
- Theodores 11y agoAlthough failed, the Sinclair C5 electric 'car' was built by the Hoover company in South Wales. Hoover made vacuum cleaners in the UK at the time rather than just offload them from a boat.
- basicplus2 11y agoI hope the car will be better than its vacuum cleaners as they are very cheaply made and of very low quality. I know this from repairing a number of them. To be frank you are better off throwing them away and buying a better quality make.
- alblue 11y agoHaving owned around six different dysons (including the washing machine) over the last couple of decades, I can safely say that in general they are rock solid. In fact they are pretty user serviceable and can replace quite a few parts yourself should you need to. In fact, the only time I have had an issue is on one of the first generation hand helds where the battery pack contacts became slightly loose, but a phone call to dyson support and a wipe clean with vinegar on the contacts resulted in the fix. Anecdata is fine but you can have both directions, and I'm not sure a repair shop observing seeing popular vacuum cleaners is the best place to start from.
- onion2k 11y agoThat's a sort of inverted survivorship bias - you've seen "a number" break, presumably from similar usage if they're yours, or at least similar temperature/humidity/etc if they're from around where you live if they're from your friends or customers, and you feel that translates to all Dysons everywhere. The reality is that you've seen at most a few thousand if you're repairing them professionally. That probably isn't a big enough sample size to know if they're consistently bad. I've owned one Dyson, but it's been going for 6 years and I've never had a problem with it. That doesn't lead me to believe they never break though.
- squinn2 11y agoIs Clive Sinclair available for comment? .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hco_Av2DJ8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hco_Av2DJ8o
- rmason 11y agoThe British government doesn't have a great track record funding automobile company's. Remember the DeLorean? Least John DeLorean had loads of auto industry experience.
- onion2k 11y agoFor a short time in the early 1980s the British government part owned Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini through British Leyland. It didn't work very well (Tory government versus heavily unionised car industry) but it went better than DeLorean.
- pjc50 11y agoThe UK actually does great at making cars - so long as they're either small volume boutique supercars, racecars or the factory is managed by foreigners (such as Nissan). The big factories were sunk by their appalling labour relations, for which management must take some blame.
- poooogles 11y agoYou're forgetting Honda (Swindon), BMW (Oxford), Ford (Dagenham)... The list goes on.
- justincormack 11y agoNissan (Sunderland) too, one of the highest productivity car factories in Europe.
- corford 11y agoYep, Jaguar Land Rover (Birmingham) too. And (IIRC) a lot of engine design for various manufacturers still happens in and around Brackley.
- petecooper 11y agoInteresting. I used to know a vacuum cleaner repair technician who told me (anecdotally, no citation I can provide) that in her shop's experience Dyson accounted for about 5% of sales and 95% of repairs.
- pjc50 11y agoMaybe they're expensive enough to be worth repairing. They're quite complex but seem durable enough.
- philjohn 11y agoThey do offer a good warranty ... the cyclone unit on our old one got so clogged up after cleaning up from some DIY that it didn't work adequately. We phoned them up, they listened to the noise and diagnosed it there and then. A few days later we had a brand new cyclone unit delivered. The thing was 4 years old at that point.
- _ph_ 11y agoThis is great news. The car industry could really benefit from completely fresh competitors beyond Tesla. And whatever some people say, Dyson did pioneer the bagless vacuum cleaners, and their technology works. It would be cool if they could come up with some completely new how a "car" is made/designed. Beyond the environmental benefits, electric cars allow companies to completely rethink car design as all the constraints from combustion engines are removed. I am excited to see what the next 5-10 years will bring. Thats also why I would like to see Apple make a car, just to see with what new ideas or designs they might come up.
- onRoadAgain24 11y agoOn the contrary. Dyson has not won any independent vacuum tests but usually ranks in the bottom half. Dyson is high price, mainly marketing with gimmicks not results. Dyson is the self marketing part of Jobs without the genius.
- dave2000 11y agoExactly. First thing I thought was "boy, those cars are going to be expensive", and, unlike Tesla, the advertising is going to be everywhere.
- monk_e_boy 11y agoThey are expensive. But they work fine and they are ingeniously made. Each little bit can be taken off and cleaned. It's a very 'open' design for the user.
- onRoadAgain24 11y agoDidn't repair those I had so no opinion. My comment was about "Dyson did pioneer the bagless vacuum cleaners, and their technology works" It's louder then any other and cleaning results are worse. It's not remarkable tech.
- rileyteige 11y ago
- mrfusion 11y agoI'd actually like a full sized , full power battery powered vacuum. I think that's my biggest mental hurdle to vacuuming. Dealing with that cord.
- phireal 11y agoWe have an Electrolux full size battery powered vacuum and not having to deal with the lead is the change which had been most effective in getting us to clean more. It's also great for cleaning the car (especially as our model can be changed from an upright to a cylinder vacuum).
- mrfusion 11y agoWow I didn't know that existed! Thanks
- ryan-allen 11y agoI heard it's gonna suck. Ha ha! Ah well in all seriousness I have a few of their products and they are really good.
- mizchief2 11y agoLet's hope the don't suck.