There is an idea ... that driver-critical, frequently used information (like speed, temps, trip odometer, etc.) can be displayed, offset, in the center of the car. You can see this "idea" deployed in the Tesla model 3. This is a clownish, absurd idea that, were it not for actual, extant production examples would be mistaken for parody ... they would be assumed to be in jest. If you are a designer and you think there…
If you put these functions in the middle of the car you can make an opposite-handed-drive model for cheaper.
A counter example of an unintelligent washing machine: My Whirlpool emitted a diagnostic puddle of water underneath it. I Googled the seal, ordered it from an independent supplier, and installed it myself. It is now on its 25th year of use with us, and cost less than $400 when new.
While I, too, am using an ancient washing machine in my home, it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison. New washing machines use far less water and electricity than their older counterparts. They also remove more water during their spin cycle, reducing the amount of drying necessary. And if your dryer uses natural gas (as mine does), a newer washing machine will reduce your use of natural gas as well.
What kills me is that every feature you mention can be done without needing an app, an lcd, or the cloud, and the same thing applies to electric cars.
How much cheaper would an electric car like a tesla be if it didn't have autopilot, electronic keys, and LCDs everywhere? How much more secure would it be without an e-key to unlock it? I hope when I'm ready to buy an electric car I can find something like that.
Right, but while Tesla has positive gross margins, they have never turned an annual profit (Positive GAAP Net Income).
This is the same as the people who complained that Amazon never turned a profit for many years. But it wasn't because they weren't making money per unit, it was because they were spending it all and then some on expansion. If you make profitable cars and you want to make profitable cars and trucks then you spend all your car profits building a truck factory. In cash-based accounting that looks like losing money right…
Amazon did turn a profit for many years on an EBITDA basis. They reinvested that profit in R&D, but they could also have chosen to send those profits to the shareholders as dividends.
Tesla has not achieved profit on an EBIDTA basis, so it's not even remotely the same thing.
While I, too, am using an ancient washing machine in my home, it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison. New washing machines use far less water and electricity than their older counterparts. They also remove more water during their spin cycle, reducing the amount of drying necessary. And if your dryer uses natural gas (as mine does), a newer washing machine will reduce your use of natural gas as well.
What kills me is that every feature you mention can be done without needing an app, an lcd, or the cloud, and the same thing applies to electric cars. How much cheaper would an electric car like a tesla be if it didn't have autopilot, electronic keys, and LCDs everywhere? How much more secure would it be without an e-key to unlock it? I hope when I'm ready to buy an electric car I can find something like that.
I'll be interesting if the gadgetness continues once the cost to build an EV drops below a basic gasoline powered car.
My commute is 8 miles of which 6 is on a freeway. Doesn't feel like a burden. Unlike say a tech bro doing his 50 mile commute down 101. So I'm dubious an autopilot would be a big win from me.
Good vacuums? Where? Reliability issues and the plastic chassis broke not long after purchase. I won't pay the premium again, that's for sure.
Totally, have a V-something cordless and the whole thing is just plastic. Even the hinges and stressed parts on the charging dock, I'm just waiting for it to snap.
Unfortunately their marketing success has led to others copying them.
We went through two Hoover brand vacuums, same crap.
> Things like app connectivity are after thoughts and not core to their products. Good! God help us the day something like a fan or a vacuum cleaner needs "app connectivity".
A good example of intelligent appliances would be like my Samsung washing machine... It had an error, so I called their support line. They asked me to hold down two buttons simultaneously, then put my phone near the door. It let out a 10s or so digital song, the kind that modems did in the 90s - that gave them an entire diagnostic, age, model etc, and they sent someone around as they knew I couldn't fix it. Pretty am…
A web of sensors enabling diagnostics (few accelerometers, temp sensors, even more water-presence ones, maye even strain gauge, cabling, microcontroller with enough analog IO, intelligent motor controller, both BOM and labor) would offset any imaginable savings. At the end of the day the outcome is always "we will send someone". Sounds like a dog and pony show, expensive scam.
Zipcar isn't profitable because it hasn't really hit critical mass. The zipcar in my street is used maybe only 2 hours per week. It just feels too expensive to use. Also, the fact you can't just park it anywhere when you're done... I wonder if perhaps some kind of "Pay £100 to have unlimited car use for the month" type scheme might work better?
It would be difficult to arrange that price-point. Once you've told someone they have unlimited use, they're going to reserve it 24/7, at which point you need to be charging them the full lease-price plus your margin.
Do away with reservations - if you aren't sitting in the driver's seat, someone else can use it.
The price point has to be low enough to look like a good deal compared to owning, insuring, and maintaining a cheap 2nd hand car for occasional use.
Maybe my £100 proposal needs a surcharge for driving outside the city boundaries to prevent roadtrip a.
This is the same as the people who complained that Amazon never turned a profit for many years. But it wasn't because they weren't making money per unit, it was because they were spending it all and then some on expansion. If you make profitable cars and you want to make profitable cars and trucks then you spend all your car profits building a truck factory. In cash-based accounting that looks like losing money right…
Amazon did turn a profit for many years on an EBITDA basis. They reinvested that profit in R&D, but they could also have chosen to send those profits to the shareholders as dividends. Tesla has not achieved profit on an EBIDTA basis, so it's not even remotely the same thing.
TSLA had positive EBIDTA in 2016, 2018 and 2019 (and Q1 2020).
In Teslas the battery container also is structural, or a stressed member of the chassis as you put it. There are many aspects here copied from Tesla or coincidentally the same, although he conveniently leaves out mentioning that fact at any opportunity. For example the lowering of the car at speed... copied from Model S.
Are you sure Tesla batteries are structural? They don’t look it and I haven’t heard that claimed before. Lowering at speed has been around for a long time it wasn’t invented by Tesla.
To your question yes, it’s well known and has been widely covered.
It’s always interesting to me that absence of knowledge of something is taken as a basis for believing that the thing is not happening.
Lowering not invented by Tesla, fair point. It seems I do the same thing too.
They also struggle with the culture of software. From what I've heard from employees, software is looked down on by management and is not really something they 'get'. Things like app connectivity are after thoughts and not core to their products. A good chunk of what makes a Tesla unique is the radically different software and digital user experience. Dyson (the company) are not ready to embrace the fast moving cultu…
> Things like app connectivity are after thoughts and not core to their products. Good! God help us the day something like a fan or a vacuum cleaner needs "app connectivity".