因?yàn)榻裉焓莻€(gè)神奇的日子，大家都喜愛(ài)的戴森(Dyson)，宣布進(jìn)軍電動(dòng)汽車(chē)行業(yè)了……
英國(guó)皇家工程院院士和皇家學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)士詹姆斯·戴森爵士，昨天通過(guò)郵件向公司全體員工告知了這件事。新車(chē)預(yù)計(jì)2020年問(wèn)世。
戴森爵士利用流體力學(xué)原理發(fā)明了旋風(fēng)分離式(cyclonic seperation)吸塵器，但沒(méi)有公司愿意買(mǎi)他的設(shè)計(jì)（因?yàn)闀?huì)影響吸塵器塵袋的銷(xiāo)售），所以他創(chuàng)立了戴森公司自己生產(chǎn)吸塵器，從日本起步做郵政販賣(mài)，拿了設(shè)計(jì)獎(jiǎng)，花了十幾年的時(shí)間才在英國(guó)本土以及全球暢銷(xiāo)開(kāi)來(lái)。目前，戴森利在旋風(fēng)分離原理基礎(chǔ)上生產(chǎn)的中高檔吸塵器備受消費(fèi)者的青睞。
詹姆斯·戴森爵士
但在那些家里可以亂、發(fā)行不能亂的年輕人心目中，戴森公司迄今為止最優(yōu)秀的產(chǎn)品應(yīng)該是2016年的“Supersonic”電吹風(fēng)。大約從五年前開(kāi)始研發(fā)，戴森利用之前的無(wú)扇葉風(fēng)扇技術(shù)，設(shè)計(jì)了一款風(fēng)量超大但又尺寸極小且超靜音的馬達(dá)，花了足足四年設(shè)計(jì)出了這款超靜音電吹風(fēng)，售價(jià)3000元人民幣……
除了吹風(fēng)機(jī)、吸塵器之外，戴森公司其他的好評(píng)產(chǎn)品還有無(wú)扇葉風(fēng)扇/空調(diào)/加濕器。哦對(duì)了，就在今年6月，戴森還推出了一款號(hào)稱(chēng)37年不用換燈泡的CSYS臺(tái)燈，售價(jià)仍然是“戴森”級(jí)的4000元。這款臺(tái)燈所用熱管技術(shù)的發(fā)明者是戴森爵士的兒子杰克·戴森(Jake Dyson)。
戴森產(chǎn)品都挺貴，就連收入不錯(cuò)的小白領(lǐng)想買(mǎi)都得好好盤(pán)算一下，畢竟買(mǎi)了小半個(gè)月工資就沒(méi)了……但很多人還是成為了戴森的擁躉——作為“消費(fèi)升級(jí)”風(fēng)潮的代表產(chǎn)品，成為戴森的用戶(hù)能讓你的生活質(zhì)量提高一大截……還是值得的。
戴森還有一些其他商用產(chǎn)品，比如Airblade干手器、商用照明等等?？偟膩?lái)說(shuō)，這還是一家非常不錯(cuò)的消費(fèi)電子企業(yè)……可它怎么就去做電動(dòng)汽車(chē)了呢？
其實(shí)戴森跟汽車(chē)的故事要追溯到上世紀(jì)80、90年代。1988年，戴森爵士看到一篇論文，發(fā)現(xiàn)柴油機(jī)的尾氣有嚴(yán)重的健康危害。戴森在1990年設(shè)立了一個(gè)專(zhuān)門(mén)的團(tuán)隊(duì)，用旋風(fēng)分離技術(shù)做柴油機(jī)尾氣顆粒捕獲。
到1993年，這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)已經(jīng)開(kāi)發(fā)出了可用的原型，他們?yōu)榱送茝V還把這款產(chǎn)品送上過(guò)電視節(jié)目。遺憾的是，和那些看走眼的吸塵器廠(chǎng)商一樣，汽車(chē)公司也對(duì)戴森的顆粒捕獲技術(shù)不感興趣。理由你肯定想不到：他們覺(jué)得捕獲這些有害物質(zhì)之后處理起來(lái)太麻煩太昂貴……
戴森爵士做這件事是想要促進(jìn)技術(shù)進(jìn)步和保護(hù)行人健康，但在當(dāng)時(shí)環(huán)保并不是那么大的一個(gè)話(huà)題?？紤]到戴森還有核心業(yè)務(wù)——吸塵器要做，這個(gè)柴油機(jī)尾氣顆粒捕獲的項(xiàng)目就沒(méi)有做下去。
但戴森爵士是個(gè)記性很好的人，清潔汽車(chē)技術(shù)這件事，他一直放在心里。到了2016年，Supersonic吹風(fēng)機(jī)發(fā)布后在市場(chǎng)上廣受好評(píng)，戴森爵士突然想起了汽車(chē)那檔子事。
他發(fā)現(xiàn)：戴森既有強(qiáng)大的電動(dòng)馬達(dá)，電池技術(shù)能力也不差，還有非常豐富的流體力學(xué)研究經(jīng)驗(yàn)和產(chǎn)品轉(zhuǎn)化能力。但問(wèn)題是，過(guò)去這些技術(shù)都是相對(duì)獨(dú)立的，存在于不同的產(chǎn)品里，比如吹風(fēng)機(jī)、無(wú)扇葉風(fēng)扇和無(wú)繩吸塵器里——有沒(méi)有一個(gè)產(chǎn)品，能夠把戴森的所有技術(shù)和研發(fā)實(shí)力都集合到一起？
這個(gè)產(chǎn)品就是汽車(chē)，電動(dòng)汽車(chē)。
戴森父子
去年9月和今年8月，戴森先后從阿斯頓馬丁招來(lái)了兩名高管，分別為產(chǎn)品研發(fā)總監(jiān)伊恩·邁納德(Ian Minards)和采購(gòu)總監(jiān)大衛(wèi)·威爾(David Wyer)。另?yè)?jù)Recode報(bào)道，前特斯拉全球公關(guān)副總裁目前在戴森負(fù)責(zé)公關(guān)。戴森的電動(dòng)汽車(chē)團(tuán)隊(duì)成員已經(jīng)超過(guò)400人，并將繼續(xù)高速擴(kuò)張。戴森爵士還保證將投資20億英鎊用于電動(dòng)汽車(chē)研發(fā)。
所以，“戴森”牌電動(dòng)汽車(chē)長(zhǎng)什么樣，跑多快，有什么特性？這些戴森爵士都拒絕透露，原因是“汽車(chē)行業(yè)技術(shù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)太過(guò)于激烈”，關(guān)于汽車(chē)的細(xì)節(jié)該公司都必須盡量保密。
不會(huì)長(zhǎng)這樣吧：
開(kāi)個(gè)玩笑……
不過(guò)有一點(diǎn)我知道，
那就是：
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這可能是第一款你勒緊褲腰帶都買(mǎi)不起的戴森產(chǎn)品……
內(nèi)部信全文：
In 1988 I read a paper by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, linking the exhaust from diesel engines to premature death in laboratory mice and rats. In March 1990 a team at Dyson began work on a cyclonic filter that could be fitted on a vehicle’s exhaust system to trap particulates.
By 1993 we had developed several working prototypes and showed an early iteration to British television programme Blue Peter. The team went on to develop a much more sophisticated technology.
To our chagrin, nobody at the time was interested in employing our diesel exhaust capture system and we stopped the project. The industry said that‘disposing’of the collected soot was too much of a problem! Better to breathe it in?
In the period since, governments around the world have encouraged the adoption of oxymoronically designated‘clean diesel’engines through subsidies and grants. Major auto manufacturers have circumvented and duped clean air regulations. As a result, developed and developing cities are full of smog-belching cars, lorries and buses. It is a problem that others are ignoring.
Throughout, it has remained my ambition to find a solution to the global problem of air pollution. Some years ago, observing that automotive firms were not changing their spots, I committed the company to develop new battery technologies. I believed that electrically powered vehicles would solve the vehicle pollution problem. Dyson carried on innovating. The latest digital motors and energy storage systems power the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer and cord-free vacuum line. We’ve relentlessly innovated in fluid dynamics and HVAC systems to build our fans, heaters and purifiers.
At this moment, we finally have the opportunity to bring all our technologies together into a single product. Rather than filtering emissions at the exhaust pipe, today we have the ability to solve it at the source. So I wanted you to hear it directly from me: Dyson has begun work on a battery electric vehicle, due to be launched by 2020.
We’ve started building an exceptional team that combines top Dyson engineers with talented individuals from the automotive industry. The team is already over 400 strong, and we are recruiting aggressively. I’m committed to investing￡2bn on this endeavour.
The project will grow quickly from here but at this stage we will not release any information. Competition for new technology in the automotive industry is fierce and we must do everything we can to keep the specifics of our vehicle confidential
In London, nearly 9,500 people die early each year due to long-term exposure to air pollution according to a study carried out by researchers at King’s College London. The World Health Organisation reports“in 2012 around 7 million people died–one in eight of total global deaths–as a result of air pollution exposure”. It is our obligation to offer a solution to the world’s largest single environmental risk. I look forward to showing you all what I hope will be something quite unique and better, in due course!
James
一點(diǎn)題外話(huà)：有些我們通?？醋飨M(fèi)電子企業(yè)的公司，都低調(diào)地做了不少跟汽車(chē)有關(guān)的技術(shù)和產(chǎn)品。比如Bose，你一定聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)、用過(guò)它的降噪耳機(jī)，但可能不知道它還做過(guò)汽車(chē)音箱、座椅減震和懸掛系統(tǒng)——其實(shí)，這些技術(shù)和產(chǎn)品的背后都跟聲學(xué)有關(guān)。
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