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Dyson Electric Car

The British firm, Dyson, is most known for its revolutionary home appliances. This company created the first bagless vacuum cleaner that gives consumers better suction force, and the bladeless fan that improves air flow while from being safer and quieter. Recently, Dyson has released news that they are venturing beyond the world of household products and into a new industry--electric cars.

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On Tuesday of last week, James Dyson, the founder of the Dyson company sent an email to his employees stating that Dyson plans to launch an electric car by 2020. Dyson’s interest in electric cars goes as far back as 1988, when the founder had read a paper by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, that associated the exhaust from diesel engines to premature deaths of laboratory mice. With the goal to reduce carbon emissions from diesel engines, Dyson successfully developed several working prototypes in 1993. However, automotive manufacturers at the time were not interested in using Dyson’s diesel exhaust capturing system and the project was discontinued.

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Dyson in joining the competitive market for electric cars a little late in the game. They would be competing against well-established producers of electric cars such as Nissan, which is the producer of the best selling electric car in the world, the Chevy Bolt and Tesla, among others.

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Other automakers such as Mercedes, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen have shown concepts for electric cars this year which will crowd the market even more. Some car manufacturers are skeptical about whether Dyson will succeed in breaking into the market. For car manufacturers who have been in the industry for years, it is not a significant change to start producing electric cars, because they already possess manufacturing facilities, established supply chain, and manpower. Aside from that, it still takes them five or six years in the works before they launch a new electric car. Dyson is basically starting from square one and it is hard to believe they can produce an electric car by 2020 by accomplishing in three years what experienced car manufacturers accomplish in six.

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On the other hand, a new company entering the market might find it easier to make it to the top, just as Tesla had done. Dyson might not be overestimating their ability either, as they have broken into the competitive markets for vacuum cleaners and hair dryers at the premium end, and convinced consumers to spend more money on it’s products than on cheaper alternatives. Besides, Dyson’s expansion to Asian markets might help them penetrate the electric vehicle market more easily. The company already has manufacturing operations in Malaysia and new research facilities in Singapore.

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Some experts believe Dyson might develop their future cars in Britain but build them in China. It is not only cheaper to manufacture cars in China, it is also where the market is. China is currently the biggest market in the world for electric vehicles with 507,000 electric vehicles and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles being sold in China in 2016 as reported by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Dyson believes that the future of their electric car lies in the Far East because the markets there have responded more quickly to electric vehicles than the UK or Europe.

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Business aspects aside, Dyson and other car manufacturers are helping the world in reducing its air pollution. India, Norway, France and Britain are already taking steps towards ditching gas and diesel cars in favor of cleaner vehicles. Whether or not Dyson succeeds in this new market, they are shifting consumers to choosing greener alternatives for the future of our planet.

Photo by carmagazine.co.uk

10/3/2017

By Karen Sin Li Hor, Staff Writer

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