British Inventor James Dyson Gets Into Electric Car Business
There's a new billionaire in the electric car business, as British inventor James Dyson steers his company towards building electric cars by 2020.
Unlike Elon Musk who dreams of bringing renewable energy cars to the masses, the creator of the bagless vacuum is looking to make "something quite unique and better."
The Dyson company has long been a world leader when it comes to electric motors and batteries, but it still took the industry by surprise when the vacuum cleaner maker announced their bold move on Tuesday, Sept. 26, according to Forbes.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Sir James Dyson is also not ignoring Tesla, which is currently the firm to beat in the electrification business. "We know this is a crowded market," Dyson said, adding that the company is prepared to pour in $2.7 billion on developing the car and its batteries.
In contrast, Elon Musk kickstarted Tesla with a smaller $6.3 million.
Half of that sum would go just for the battery design, with the rest set aside to fuel the automotive outcrop of the appliance firm, which Dyson expects to "quickly" outgrow the rest of their ventures in time.
"Battery technology is very important to Dyson, electric motors are very important to Dyson, environmental control is very important to us," the 71-year-old innovator said, before adding that they have been working on the concept long before the announcement.
The inventor said that 400 engineers were already more than two years into the company's secret car project, which has just been revealed this week. The form of the car still needs to be designed, however, according to Reuters.
Dyson looks to buck the trend in more ways than one in this endeavor. For one, they are looking into using solid-state batteries rather than the current lithium ion-based storage used everywhere in the market today. The company has already acquired Sakti3, a company based in Michigan, that specializes in the technology.
There's no predicting what their electric car would look like, either. "There's no point in doing one that looks like everyone else's," Dyson explained.
