How disruptive will the electric vehicle (EV) revolution be? The falling cost of batteries means EVs could become cheaper than gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles by 2025. And because of cheaper batteries and a huge uptick in EV adoption in China, we might see oil drop to $10 per barrel in less than a decade.
- Dyson has a very loyal customer base
- Dyson is a strong premium brand, associated with innovative, highly effective engineering and can charge a premium price
- Dyson has brick and mortar sales and service centers (similar to Apple and Tesla)
- Dyson has a charismatic front man, known for thinking outside the box
While it’s easy to see that Dyson might have all the right ingredients to make its EV’s just as admired as its vacuums, and thus take market share from Tesla, major roadblocks remain, according to Uli Muench, Global VP for SAP’s Industry Business Automotive Unit.
“The industry suffers from large inventories and overcapacities,” said Muench. “EV is already a crowded market with established Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) getting their act together and dozens of new players popping up every year. Only a few will survive.”
And while Dyson plans to target the higher-end consumer like Tesla first did, he believes Dyson probably won’t disrupt Telsa’s momentum and should proceed with caution.
“Tesla is learning the hard way that cost-effective mass production with a tightly connected just-in-time supply network is not trivial,” said Muench. “For this reason alone, I don’t think building cars would be a viable strategy for Dyson. The only way Dyson could be a serious contender would be if they find a solid white label manufacturer and focus on marketing and sales based on their strong brand and retail network.”
In addition, Dyson EV’s would need to have more advanced features than the average vehicle if they want to play to their premium brand strength. A more connected car means manufacturers will have to tap into the expertise of tech vendors to help manage IoT capabilities and more.
“We are working with a number or EV start-ups that need software solutions to run their business,” said Muench. “They are attracted to SAP’s scalable, standard platform with built-in automotive best practices.”
Muench said he currently sees too many OEM’s, suppliers and start-ups and tech companies like Intel and Samsung in a race to create their own technology standards for autonomous driving and IoT.
“The industry needs to come together and define standards and foundational technology together,” said Muench. “This is a great opportunity for SAP to help lead this charge as we can provide a strong platform, and act as broker for services that span multiple industries, including retail, insurance, utilities, transportation and the public sector.”
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