
Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car - boh
http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11299802/dyson-electric-car-vacuum-UK-government
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_ph_
This 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
On 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.

~~~
Al-Khwarizmi
Won't argue because I haven't seen any tests, but I am surprised to read this
because my current one is a Dyson and it cleans way better than any other one
I've had before. It takes me like 5 times less to clean a room and the result
is better, especially when carpets are involved.

It could be that I've just always chosen badly though. Which vacuum would you
recommend?

~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
Go to any office in the UK and they'll have a Numatic Henry. Go to any factory
and they'll have one of the bigger Numatic models. Get a professional cleaner
to come to your house and 9 times out of 10 they'll bring a Henry.

It can't just be because of the cute face...

[https://www.numatic.co.uk/](https://www.numatic.co.uk/)

(no affiliation by the way, I just wasn't sure how to put the link inline!)

~~~
thepies
Henry Hoovers have serious fans :

[http://i.imgur.com/fscSWvA.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/fscSWvA.jpg)

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Theodores
Dyson 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
Not 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
Sure. How many other vacuum companies are also making electric cars?

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Theodores
Although 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.

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mrfusion
I'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
We 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
Wow I didn't know that existed! Thanks

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jonah
Maybe they'll use vacuums to create downforce.

[https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-
media/image/upload/ki9rasv6uh...](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-
media/image/upload/ki9rasv6uhtxqgiviixt.jpg)

(It's the Chaparral 2J
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J))

~~~
rmason
Chapparal, 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
The Brabham was made illegal after one race IIRC.

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autopov
Will its propulsion system involve sucking and blowing air over a "special"
airfoil to increase the air's velocity?

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themodelplumber
This is so great. It's like watching an early 20th century period piece
unfold.

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petecooper
Interesting. 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
Maybe they're expensive enough to be worth repairing. They're quite complex
but seem durable enough.

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squinn2
Is Clive Sinclair available for comment? ..

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hco_Av2DJ8o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hco_Av2DJ8o)

~~~
harryf
Looked for a funny Sinclair C5 videos - was not disappointed -
[http://youtu.be/2fbzSsHx93U](http://youtu.be/2fbzSsHx93U)

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ryan-allen
I heard it's gonna suck. Ha ha!

Ah well in all seriousness I have a few of their products and they are really
good.

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basicplus2
I 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.

~~~
onion2k
That'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.

~~~
spacehome
I assure you a few thousand is enough to know if they're consistently bad.

~~~
rfrey
If the few thousand are taken randomly. Not so much if they're taken from the
set of "those that broke".

~~~
spacehome
Yea, that's a good point.

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rmason
The 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
For 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
The 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
You're forgetting Honda (Swindon), BMW (Oxford), Ford (Dagenham)... The list
goes on.

~~~
corford
Yep, Jaguar Land Rover (Birmingham) too. And (IIRC) a lot of engine design for
various manufacturers still happens in and around Brackley.

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LeoPanthera
I'm really struggling not to make a "...sucks" joke.

...damn.

