James Dyson Shows It's Too Easy to Make Electric Cars
James Dyson couldn’t keep his car project alive for the same reason he could attempt it in the first place: The low barriers to entry mean anyone can do it.
Sticking with the vacuum cleaners.
Photographer: /AFPThe reason it was even conceivable for Dyson Ltd. to make an electric car may also have been why its project was doomed to fail: They’re simply too easy to make. The British company, best known for its expensive vacuum cleaners, has now abandoned its 2 billion-pound ($2.5 billion) plan to branch out and take on the likes of Tesla Inc. and Volkswagen AG.
Whereas cars with a combustion engine need about 30,000 components, an electric vehicle needs just 11,000 parts, according to research from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. That reduction in complexity has lowered the barriers to entry for the automotive market, and caused a surge in the number of new carmakers.