British household appliance brand Dyson intends to increase its electric vehicle workforce by 300 personnel, according to an Autocar report. With 400 employees already tasked with the EV project, the company is ‘looking to fill an additional 300 automotive vacancies’ ahead of its move into a new 750-acre facility, which will be its second research and development location in its home country.
Dyson first signaled its EV aspirations three years ago, and has since confirmed plans for a launch by 2020. That will be one of three models in the pipeline; the first aims to get the company on the car-making learning curve, while the following two will be produced in greater volumes for the brand to compete in the mass market.
Solid-state battery technology will form the basis of Dyson’s EV development, and as such, the British company will join Toyota and BMW in developing the battery technology for debuts in the coming decade. Porsche also has plans for solid-state battery-powered electric vehicles, the report added. The advantage brought by this battery technology is that its higher energy density cells are quicker to charge and can store more energy.
The brand has also invested in artificial intelligence techonology, and although not directly linked to the car development programme, autonomous technology that is capable of learning will likely be included in its early models.
There has yet to be a definitive location for Dyson’s vehicle manufacture, though that will work around battery production. Though development will take place in the United Kingdom, Dyson has a large market presence in Asia and therefore production in China is likely.
“Wherever we make the battery, we’ll make the car; that’s logical. So we want to be near our suppliers; we want to be in a place that welcomes us and is friendly to us, and where it is logistically most sensible. And we see a very large market for this car in the Far East,” founder James Dyson said to Reuters last year.
Dyson isn’t a fan of how governments have favoured diesels. “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,” he said.
A major aim is to reduce air pollution from cars at the source, he said. “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. At this moment, we finally have the opportunity to bring all our technologies together into a single product,” he noted.
When the eventual product surfaces, Dyson’s EV will be Dyson-badged, according to Autocar, and the firm is not planning to engage other automakers for assistance in bringing their forthcoming EVs into production.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
A vacuum cleaner company is going all out to build a state of the art AI electric powered car. Our proton in the business of making car for more than 30 years had to beg for help from us, the gov and finally China to make cars(even when heavy tax is imposed on other car manufacturers). Damn malu man for proton.
Will their car suck all the dust and sand and leaves and dirt and so on while driving on the road? If yes, I am definitely buying 1…
– I Have Just Added A Comment –