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.
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.
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.
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.
It never actually occurred to me that appliance companies will now have a slightly easier time breaking into the automobile market. It'd be interesting to see a Philips or LG minicar...
Dyson might find a niche as a motor vendor to others that build the rest of the car, instead of actually building cars. I can see that as a better thing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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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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.
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.
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.
Why ? Dyson has been renowned for having great design sensibilities.
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.
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.
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.