Nearly two months ago, famed vacuum maker Dyson confirmed plans of a new venture – car-making. Now, it appears that the pure electirc vehicle, set to debut in 2020, will feature some form of autonomous driving technology.
According to Auto Express, founder James Dyson said on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One that the car will have “some driverless in it,” although he remained tight-lipped on the details. Although it’s still unclear whether the car will be made in the UK or Asia, Dyson also confirmed that production will be strictly in-house, using Dyson-only components.
“We’re going to make it ourselves. Whether we make it here or somewhere in the Far East, we haven’t decided yet. It’s really about component supply and skills. We will go where it’s best to make the car from the point of view of getting the supply chain, which is crucial, and the skills necessary to build it,” Dyson added. The company’s vacuum cleaners and washing machines are presently made in Malaysia.
To recap, Dyson, a privately-owned British tech company, announced its plans to introduce a range of pure electric cars in 2020. Headlining that story is an investment of two billion British pounds; the first billion will go into the development and production of the car itself, which will use Dyson-only components and without material input from existing car manufacturers.
The other billion will be used to finalise and manufacture the advanced solid-state batteries, of which is the designated energy storage unit to power the electric motor(s). “Solid-state batteries don’t contain liquids like lithium-ion units, so they have greater potential energy density, are theoretically safer and can be recharged more quickly,” said Dyson. He also believes that the batteries, although highly complex to manufacture, will be ready for production within the stipulated period.
“Battery technology is very important to Dyson, electric motors are very important to Dyson, environmental control is very important to us. I have been developing these technologies consistently because I could see that one day we could do a car,” said the 71-year-old. As for the car, Dyson said it won’t look like a car that everyone else has. It won’t even be a sports car nor a “very cheap” car.
Dyson said that a 400-strong team of engineers had already spent two and a half years working on what was until now, a secret car project in Wiltshire, UK. The decision to go public was made to help speed up recruitment and enable high-level discussions with third-party suppliers.
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Last last it become a robotic EV road sweeper & vacuum.
EV to sweep vacuum mop roads and highways. Will it auto seek out and return to charging stations whenever batteries low?
Hello Mr Dyson:
Is your car going to have 4 balls instead of 4 wheels? like you ballbarrow invention? And please tell me why your made in malaysia dyson products selling price in malaysia is 20-30% higher than the same made in malaysia products sold in Europe? Are you trying to rip us off?