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Comment by Frodo478 | Hacker News Reader

You know what are the main elements of an electric car? Battery and electric motor. Dyson uses them in every product. So it's in the business more that you think. And another great skill of dyson is the design. And the CEO is one of the most famous in the world. So battery, motor and design makes a good electric car. At least in theory...

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Not even close. A car is way much more than a motor and 4 wheels, specially in 2019. You need suspension, aerodynamics, an infotaiment system, seats, air conditioning, doors (dont understimate this one), a music playback system, a good display for the driver... And this in a cabin that can confort people from temperatures and noise from the outside. Making a decent car in incredibly difficult. + Safety features required for the current standards.

Dyson uses batteries but doesn't manufacture batteries. They've been researching the hell out of batteries but they don't manufacture batteries and they sure don't manufacture batteries at scale. Contrast with the Tesla gigafactory which cost $5B.

Dyson may have had something with their digital motor. It's hard to say whether that is an advantage let alone a competitive advantage. But at this point they should license that to one of the other EV players.

Comparing the battery & motor in a vacuum cleaner and a car is ridiculous.

Dyson is famous for tiny high RPM motors which are cool but irrelevant in a car (?), and the battery in it's latest vacuum has 7 cells - my Tesla has over 7000.

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