Dyson will be joining a list of traditional and new competitors entering an increasingly crowded race to produce electric cars. Dyson, which began its business as a UK-based blow dryer and vacuum maker, has unveiled plans to turn a former airfield into a vehicle testing site. The company has reinforced its plans to become a unique competitor on the market and expects its first model to be on the road by 2021.

Dyson has invested 2 billion pounds into building a research center in the west of England near former Hullavington Airport to accommodate 2,000 staff and will additionally build an 16-kilometer long testing track at the research center.

Dyson’s dream of EV production since the 1990s

In 2015, Dyson bought US’s University of Michigan’s startup Sakti3 which produces solid-state batteries, with USD 90 million.

Dyson will focus on its battery production which is believed to be a central component to EV production. ‘We will manufacture our electric cars in the same city where we manufacture our batteries.’ Dyson’s CEO and Founder James Dyson stated that the company plans to invest 1.4 billion USD in the next 5 years into battery production technology.

The sudden change of Dyson’s business and manufacturing plans remains to be a surprise to the current market, however CEO and Founder James Dyson remembers that the initial idea of EV poduction occurred in 1988 where he marked the negative impacts made by diesel gas to human health in his thesis paper. In the 1990s, the company hired a team of experts to research into turbine technology used to filter out pollutants in car engines. In 1993, the team produced a mock model, but the experimenting idea soon vanished as the electrical auto market hadn’t appealed to the public.

2 billion pounds to target first production by 2020

In September 2017, Dyson announced that it will invest over 2 million pounds into designing and producing an electrical vehicle, unique to the current available market. Dyson has stated that it already has a team of top engineers and manufacturing experts in line with a research team of 400 employees to launch its first model by 2021.

In the beginning of the year, James Dyson revealed that all auto parts will be manufactured. Targeted towards high end buyers, the company will undergo a small production of about 10 thousand cars before it continues to build and establish partnerships with suppliers and battery production team to continue to launch two additional mid-class models.

 Test run highway & center for 2000 staff

Dyson has renovated the old aircraft maintenance center built in 1938 in Hullavington and will provide working space for over 400 employees. The next step is to build a 16 kilometer long test run at the technology center to test the company’s first model, which is expected to be on the road by 2021.

Source: Sina News