
Dyson to make electric cars from 2020 - rathboma
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41399497
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DanGPhoton
Point of fact, "that Dyson" is Freeman Dyson

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colechristensen
Because it's ambiguous, Freeman Dyson the physicist who has many things named
after him, has (as far as I can tell) nothing at all to do with James Dyson
who is the guy with the vacuum cleaner and now car company. If you know much
about science, "that Dyson" is Freeman, if you don't, it's James or his
company.

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vixen99
I think some of us suspected that a man in his nineties might not be in the
business of making electric cars.

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retSava
I wonder how much of their knowledge of motors and batteries are usable in
cars though. The power draw and load characteristics must be very, very
different and I don't think it simply scales up.

A fan or vacuum motor is basically ramping up, running at constant speed
(either fixed rpm, or fixed drive depending on how they designed it), and
ramps down. A car motor on the other hand must be able to meet much more
dynamic use.

Also, the image we get from the article is "we have the motor, now we just
need the car" understates how hard it must be to build a robust, safe,
efficient, etc, car. (not that I have much experience apart from How it's
made, and various factory clips on youtube :) ). At least, he says it won't be
cheap.

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IshKebab
The biggest difference is that Dyson's existing motors are all effectively
cooled 'for free' by passing the air that they are blowing through the motor.
The biggest difficulty of making a motor really small and powerful is heat
dissipation.

With a car the motor can't be cooled in that way (at least not at low speeds
and not as easily), so I imagine the design is a bit different.

Incidentally that is why they don't make wet & dry vacuums - in those the air
can't go through the motor so it can't cool it.

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retSava
Aha, I always figured that was primarily due to the risk of mold and unwanted
organic events in the dust compartment.

It's interesting, air and cooling. I read that a problem that might occur if
you are changing to wider tires on the car, or lowering the suspension, is
that brakes will more easily overheat and thus warp.

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hiven
It's been common knowledge he was building a car for a good year or two. I
imagine it's going to be very ugly.

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threeseed
> I imagine it's going to be very ugly.

Why ? Dyson has been renowned for having great design sensibilities.

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hiven
I think they are getting there. The hair dryer is not a bad product really.
However I do feel like some of their products still have quite a way to go.
The excessive use of cheap plastic with bright coloured highlights aren't to
everyone's taste.

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bivvy
"they are getting there. The hair dryer is not a bad product really"

Really, I don't think you know what you are talking about. The supersonic is
innovate and in a useful way in how it distributes the heat. Pros love it. And
it looks great.

"excessive use of cheap plastic"

Many people like the modern industrial look. The highest quality plastics are
always used. And above all Dyson is about engineering excellence and producing
a product that is useful and functions at a new level.

You really need to do your reading about the company :)

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hiven
I think you have perhaps been won over by their excellent marketing team. I've
been an engineer for long enough to have a reasonable say in the field.

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hayksaakian
the account you're replying to was created for the purpose of posting that
"comment" so if there was ever evidence of shilling on hacker news, this is
it.

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bivvy
I am not in any way linked to Dyson. But I am a fan who uses Dyson's products
because I like them. I have used them and I am not going on assumptions and
just blurting out opinions as some here are.

Often in forums do I find people hiding behind user names who say something
stupid and then say "I'm an engineer so I know better!". Then give abs. no
reason (let alone technical) to back this up whatsoever.

When it's clear they have not even tried the product! And are spouting
opinions. We need less of that. More people who know what they are talking
about please or be quiet.

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m3kw9
100,000 rpm redline engine would be one of its selling points

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MengerSponge
The only way to tell if it's running will be if your dog is losing its
everloving mind.

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garyclarke27
Dyson may pull it off because they start with a high end brand and a good
reputation for innovation, contrast Nissan Leaf and GM Volt. They are alos
good at making very light yet amazingly strong and durable plastic products.
I've been wondering whether their v clever bladeless tech could be used for
electric planes, I could imagine thrust from this coming out of the whole wing
flap and being easily switchable from vertical to horizontal.

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agumonkey
The bladeless "turbine" has a very small radius though. For a fan power output
that's alright but for a plane I'm not sure it's efficient enough. I'd love to
be wrong though.

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BrandoElFollito
It is interesting how Dyson engineering is self - limiting.

I owned two Dyson vacuum cleaners. The cleaning experience was fantastic. When
you needed to empty the réservoir (or whatever the part which holds the dust
is called) it was a disaster. The ergonomics were so bad that I always ended
up with dust everywhere and twice injured a finger.

It is like they were so (rightfully) happy about their motor that they just
slapped together the rest.

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Gys
The UK already produced an interesting electrical vehicle in 1985:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5)

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roryisok
I'm curious to see where he'll go. He specifically said it will be nothing
like cars out there, and Dyson products are always uniquely different to the
norm. Will it even look like a car as we know it?

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andrewjrhill
> Will it even look like a car as we know it?

If he he hopes for any sort of market adoption it will have to look like a car
as we know it. You can still make some changes here and there that push
boundaries - but ultimately people want whats familiar more than unfamiliar.

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DaiPlusPlus
This. Tesla was not the first electric car company - but it was the first
electric car company that didn't make a car that _looked like_ an electric
car. Add a tail-pipe and a front radiator to a Roadster or Model S and you'd
swear it was a Lotus (yes, I know...) or Italian car respectively.

Meanwhile the BMW i-series, Chevy Bolt and Volt, and even the GM EV1 all look
_different_, and not necessarily in an a good way either: I'm surprised the
BMW i3 is selling at all considering how much it resembles an oversized
preschool children's toy car. I'm not seeing much "dignity" or timelessness in
these car designs and it's what led me to believe that the executive
management of these companies is somehow encouraging wacky designs to poison
the notion of an electric-car being anything other than an impractical silly-
looking vehicle only non-style-conscious tree-huggers would be seen dead
driving.

I salute Tesla for making an electric car that... looks like a car.

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roryisok
> you'd swear it was a Lotus (yes, I know...)

I'm guessing the thing you know is that the Tesla is based on the Lotus Elise
but did you _also_ know that the Elise was released as an electric car waaaaay
back in 1998? It had a limited top speed of 90mph, a range of 120mph and
recharge time of 1 hour.

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Vanayad
And here I thought you were talking about the Dyson sphere Dyson... heh.

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jlebrech
Something with electric ducted fans?

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mulmen
Will it get you 80% of the way to your destination then leave you stranded
with wet hands?

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gigatexal
I bet it sucks. Hahaha

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plg
it's going to suck

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temporallobe
Well bad things don't happen in a vacuum.

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thecompilr
So basically roomba with a driver?

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roryisok
No, a self driving one. Now I'm picturing a car that bounces off walls to find
it's way

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pasbesoin
Lets home this one doesn't have more suck-tion. ;-)

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pasbesoin
I guess you have to be a fan of Craig Ferguson. :-/

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gremlinsinc
Dyson needs to make a spherical megastructure that encloses the first 3
planets and uses all the sun's energy.. Not sure what we'd call it ... but I'm
sure we could come up with a name for it... (this comment probably belongs on
reddit not HN...but I couldn't resist)

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mkj
Going by other Dyson products it'll be damn loud. But I guess it's not so far
outside of their expertise, aerodynamics being important for battery range.

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criddell
Considering the history of bad electrical systems in British cars, I'm not
sure I want an all-electric car from them...

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sk0g
Ah yes, maybe no one else should have bothered with making cars, considering
the Germans were the first. We would all be driving Mercedes cars!

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criddell
Apparently there are some British car fans here.

Ever since Dyson started selling "bladeless" fans, I've been a little
skeptical of their claims.

