Dyson to launch electric vehicle by 2020

Dyson, the British technology company behind a raft of household appliances, has announced a £2Bn investment to develop its own variant of the electric car.

For James Dyson, renowned inventor and founder of his namesake, the move has been decades in the making. During the early nineties, Mr Dyson proposed a cyclonic filter – similar in principle to those found inside his iconic vacuum cleaner – which attached to a diesel vehicle’s exhaust and captured particulate matter. The industry was uninterested however – the appetite was not yet there and the capture system was promptly shelved.

In the years since, Dyson has developed a myriad of motors and batteries, and the company now looks to bring that expertise to bear in the guise of a “radical” electric car. Already, 400 engineers have been enlisted, with recruitment ongoing. The £2Bn investment will be split, with £1Bn allocated to the vehicle itself and £1Bn earmarked for the all-important battery.

It’s all a bit nebulous however. Neither the car nor a prototype exists at the moment and a manufacturing base has yet to be chosen, meaning there’s much work to be done. There are doubts too as to whether Dyson can make inroads into an already crowded market. But Dyson remain optimistic that they can deliver something very different.

“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,” wrote Mr Dyson in a statement addressing his workforce.

“The World Health Organisation reports “in 2012 around seven million people dies – 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!”

If you would like to read more articles like this then please click here.

The post Dyson to launch electric vehicle by 2020 appeared first on UK Construction Online.