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from the if-the-car-sucks-as-much-as-their-vacuums...-is-that-a-good-thing? dept.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41399497
Dyson, the engineering company best known for its vacuum cleaners and fans, plans to spend £2bn developing a "radical" electric car. The battery-powered vehicle is due to be launched in 2020. Dyson says 400 staff have been working on the secret project for the past two years at its headquarters in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
However, the car does not yet exist, with no prototype built, and a factory site is yet to be chosen. Sir James declined to give further details of the project. "Competition for new technology in the automotive industry is fierce and we must do everything we can to keep the specifics of our vehicle confidential," he told staff in an email. Important points that are undecided or secret include the firm's expected annual production total, the cost of the car, or its range or top speed.
Sir James said about £1bn would be spent on developing the car, with another £1bn on making the battery.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Wednesday September 27 2017, @12:14PM (4 children)
The question is, will they bring any novel technology to the electric car market (which was the real killer feature of their other products)?
Otherwise, anybody can produce a car/vacuum cleaner that looks like a collaboration between Fischer Price and H. R. Geiger.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 27 2017, @12:54PM (3 children)
Their fans do use the Coanda Effect, so that's pretty cool. Maybe they'll bring something inventive like that to their cars.
The big auto makers all scoffed at Elon Musk when he started Tesla, and now he's about to eat their lunch. Skepticism is always warranted with announcements like these, but the Dyson guys are engineers, not basket makers, so I'd reckon their chances of pulling it off are non-zero.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Wednesday September 27 2017, @02:18PM (1 child)
"The big auto makers all scoffed at Elon Musk when he started Tesla, and now he's about to eat their lunch."
He sells an absolute pittance of cars. The big auto makers are literally using him as an R&D guineau pig. They have enough cash on hand at all times to put him out of the market any time they like but the fact is, he doesn't sell much, thus they wouldn't gain much by competing yet, thus it's not worth any more R&D than they already put into it.
Honestly, his "battery factory" will produce industry-standard cells, en-masse, in competition with every other battery manufacturer on the planet. There's nothing there that ANY of the big auto makers couldn't set up in a year. Seriously, the Tesla company is their guinea pig - "Oh, look, people still want range. Oh, look, people won't eat the battery rental as a service. Oh, look, advertising your car as anything 'Autopilot' gets you sued. Oh, look, it's just a car that not many people buy because of the charging infrastructure and inconvenience". They know all this. I wouldn't even be surprised if they didn't all have at least 2-3 models of electric car that they could put into production in a year and steal the market form under Musk.
What we're all waiting for is the battery. It doesn't currently exist, and even Tesla have nothing special in that regard. Let him burn through his money doing your R&D and market research for you.
If anything, the biggest impetus to manufacturer's are things like the EU legislating that no cars from a certain date (is it 2040?) can be petrol or diesel. They've known that was coming for decades too, but they fought against it because there's nothing really viable while batteries are so poor.
Seriously, any car manufacturer you've heard of could push Musk out of the market in one year, using the same batteries and technology as he has. Fact is, it's not worth the money that it would cost them to do so until things become viable. And I guarantee you that whatever manufacturer finds a viable battery first will be the one to get rich really quick. Musk hasn't made ANY progress that way whatsoever. He just hopes that if he makes them by the million, they will slightly reduce in cost. Gosh, if only all those other massive battery manufacturer's that do nothing else were already doing that.... (hint: they are).
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 27 2017, @07:21PM
I don't have the citation at my fingertips, but Tesla has been outselling Mercedes and BMW at the top end of the market, their most profitable segment.
You might be right about the big auto makers being able to beat Tesla at their own game. Setting aside that that would be a good thing, i can only channel the feedback on the latest EV announcements from the Frankfurt auto show that my brother had. He's an automotive engineer at Ford's advanced research division (so they're generally the first to know when the top leadership is contemplating new directions). The leadership came back from their recent confab with the new CEO with nothing but Tesla on their lips. Whatever Ford's actual market share and production volumes are, they feel very threatened by Tesla.
Second, my brother scoffed at all the announcements from the other players, because he maintains it's 3yrs from a concept to a production car in the auto manufacturing business. He dismisses the announcements as nothing more than. PR ploy to keep mindshare and maintain the appearance of relevance.
There are a lot of barriers to the car companies really changing the kind of cars they make, such as their networks of dealerships which would be rendered largely irrelevant in a world ruled by EVs, or auto unions who won't be happy that all the guys who work on engines and drive trains won't be needed anymore. There are all the brand managers inside the company who will be crapping their pants that their ICE program will be killed. There are parts suppliers who will be panicking that their bread and butter will go away. In short, there's an enormous amount of inertia to be overcome.
So you might be right eventually, but will they be able to adapt quickly enough before Tesla runs away with major market share? I think Tesla has a good shot because of their battery supply (contrary to belief that supply is limited, and will continue to be a bottleneck for every brand that doesn't have its own giga factory). They have a supercharger network. They have a large number of model S's driving in autonomous mode and returning telemetry that will improve Tesla's self-driving algorithms.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @05:16PM
> Their fans do use the Coanda Effect, ...
The Dyson "ring fan" I heard (an early model) was incredibly loud and annoying at higher speed settings. Anyone know if newer models are quieter?