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Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

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171–180 of 258 posts

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#172
post #91
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they take about the same time as any other dryer This is false. Before the Dyson Airblade and the really loud Xlerator ones, World Dryer was the most common hand dryer (in America at least), and they are awful. Forget about 10 seconds, you could stand there for 60 seconds and still want to use paper towels after.

Xlerators are an auditory health hazard. You can hear them running outside the gym before you can hear the music blaring.

All hand dryers are a health hazard. They're a wet, warm, bacteria incubator that can then aerosolize the bacteria.

In contrast, the mechanical action of drying your hands with a paper towel is an additional antibacterial step.

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#173
post #70

I have 4 Dyson products, besides the hair-dryer, all of the others are bad (can't say they suck b/c that's the main job of 2 of the vacuums and they can't get it done). I bought the dyson air purifier that's cold and hot, it's so bad...works at the same level as a USB fan... The vacuums are loud and look futuristic but can't clean anything properly. Any recommendations for a good vacuum are welcome!

Vax are cheap, have a new model every five minutes, but they're effective, and come with two batteries (which is maybe normal, but was a pleasant surprise for the price) and last for several runs (probably 2-3h total running time?) but the convenience of having one on charge and one in is great.

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#174
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my coworking space with only hand dryers (eco friendly attempt) I just tear a couple paper towels off in the kitchen and bring them in with me.

The whole "eco friendly" thing about hand dryers never made sense to me. In fact, I think it's a marketing ploy by the air dryer makers. Paper towels are great, and they come from trees, which we can and want to grow more of.

Well, paper and textile production is dirty as hell. Ask anyone old enough to have lived in a mill town.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_paper

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#175

I'm surprised at this - seems bizarre that it's a 'great product' but isn't commercially viable in any way? As an aside, I really can't understand why people are so enthusiastic about Dyson products - I find them to be poor to use and poor performers. My gf has a dyson vacuum cleaner (a v6, I think), and it's terrible. Battery life is minimal, the suction is poor compared to anything I've used in the past, all the no…

'Great products' that are not economically viable are probably more common than regular products.

It's easy to make something great when you don't have to worry about margins, supply chains, manufacturing, distribution etc. etc..

This happens all the time in consumer; every consumer product designer would love to add a bunch of features and functions, but often these things push costs way past what people will pay for.

There are so many amazing products that would exist today if we were willing to pay 2x-10x the prevailing price - but we won't.

I'm working with a team that's making toys. There's a faction that has an experimental AI piece that has some really fun applications, but it'd be a $150 toy (i.e. heavy processor etc.). The market will accept $40-50, which dramatically limits the kind of hardware that can go on there (i.e. micro-controllers only).

Practically the whole business of hardware is about making those tradeoffs.

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the suction is poor compared to anything I've used in the past What did you use in the past?

She had a Bosch cordless one previously, that was better. It's supposed to be capable of replacing your corded one, but it's simply not up to the task - any corded vacuum I've had was better - a £30 LG was -way- better than the Dyson it replaced (when the motor failed, it was BER), and lasted a lot longer. If I need to clean the car, I'd do it with my old Henry that I found by the side of the road.

ahh ok. I have the v11. Seems to work fine, I clean my house car ect. But I haven't really compared it against others.

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#177

I'm surprised at this - seems bizarre that it's a 'great product' but isn't commercially viable in any way? As an aside, I really can't understand why people are so enthusiastic about Dyson products - I find them to be poor to use and poor performers. My gf has a dyson vacuum cleaner (a v6, I think), and it's terrible. Battery life is minimal, the suction is poor compared to anything I've used in the past, all the no…

The v6 is old, if your gf's had it for a while the battery's probably on its last legs, and it didn't last that long to begin with anyways. The more recent models have plenty of battery life.

Just what the world needed, one more thing you have to completely throw out just because the battery's worn...

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#178

Why do companies keep thinking they can build a fucking car? Yes Tesla did it but it was a company 100% dedicated to it. Dyson has a core business already. I’m also skeptical about Apple but at least they have one of the largest treasure chests in the world of cash so they can more afford a moon shot.

Lots of cheap money means lots of dumb projects.

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#179
post #167
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xlerators are an auditory health hazard. You can hear them running outside the gym before you can hear the music blaring.

The emerging research showing hearing damage to children, who stand closer and lower in to the air blower, is pretty damning. I'll pretty much never use these if I can avoid it. Paper towel is quick, it's quiet, it's mess free, and it's made out of a renewable resource that pulls CO2 from the air. What's not to like about paper towels?

Brought to light with some nice work by a junior researcher recently, https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/739783918/hand-dryers-harm-ch...

Re: Dyson has scrapped its electric car project

#180
I don't understand why any of them would build an entire car instead of starting with a core part of the car better than anyone else, then expand into the other areas eventually.

Same with self-driving AI companies. Release a better-than-Tesla and better-than-human highway driving lane assist system first then move on to the harder problems.

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