In the figurative mountain of papers we have on new electric vehicles, we like to pick out the ones that’ll actually make it to production, or already have (looking at you, $31K Tesla).
But sometimes you read about a vehicle so intriguing you want to will it into existence, as is the case with The Drive’s story, “Dyson’s Electric Cars Will Be Built in Singapore Instead of UK.”
Wait, Dyson — the company selling $500 gold hair dryers — is making electric cars?
Here’s what we know about the vacuum juggernaut’s plan to dethrone Tesla:
- When will we see them? According to the BBC, “The company will break ground on its new factory in Singapore later this year with the first car scheduled to roll off the production line in 2021.”
- What will the cars look like? “Despite lacking any real automotive experience, Dyson will not partner with another company on development of hardware for its electric car, [former chief executive Max Conze] said,” as writes The Drive. “Like Tesla, Dyson hopes to work from a clean slate and not have to design around existing components.” That’s fantastic news, as electric-car designs on the whole are a faux-futuristic mess.
- What about under the hood? The goal is 50-100 percent greater range than electric cars in the same category. Although, there’s no confirmation on whether currently experimental solid-state batteries or traditional lithium-ion batteries will be used.
- How serious is this? When announced in September 2017, Dyson committed around $2.6 billion to the endeavor. And founder James Dyson is more confident than ever.
Does this mean he is, dare we say it, an Elon Musk wannabe? Not quite.
“I hope to do it very differently to Tesla on all sorts of levels … my approach is the technology approach,” he told London’s Evening Standard. “I’m risking my own money, not shareholder’s money, which is very, very different.”
That’s enough for us to put our money on a Dyson sweep in 2021.
Main photo: “James Dyson” by Eva Rinaldi on Flickr, made available under CC BY-SA 2.0
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