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Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

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Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#12

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.

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.

Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#13
post #5

Maybe they'll use vacuums to create downforce. https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/ki9rasv6uh... (It's the Chaparral 2J https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J )

Chapparal, the famous 'sucker car' was the first ground-effects race car.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(cars)

So effective the sport made it illegal after just one season.

Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#14
post #11

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.

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.

Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#16

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.

Having 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.

Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#17
post #12

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.

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…

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

Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#18

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.

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

Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#19
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.

Re: Vacuum-maker Dyson is reportedly working on an electric car

#20
post #14
post #11

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.

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.

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.

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