Autocar May 15, 2019

EXAMPLES OF HUGE multinational companies suddenly making cars are extremely rare. That’s with good reason: volume car production is very expensive and complex with slim margins and competition from strong, established firms making ever-better cars for typically loyal buyers. So why would you? Because it can be done better, according to Dyson, which reveals the first patents for its own car this week (p6). We’ve seen several new start-ups create electric cars of varying degrees of quality and credibility in recent years, but Dyson is the first household name from outside the automotive industry to seize the clean-sheet design opportunities offered by electrification. Do not underestimate the significance of the Dyson car project, nor the scale of its ambitions. Some £2.5 billion has been ploughed into it, some 500 engineers are hard at…

EXAMPLES OF HUGE multinational companies suddenly making cars are extremely rare. That’s with good reason: volume car production is very expensive and complex with slim margins and competition from strong, established firms making ever-better cars for typically loyal buyers. So why would you? Because it can be done better, according to Dyson, which reveals the first patents for its own car this week (p6). We’ve seen several new start-ups create electric cars of varying degrees of quality and credibility in recent years, but Dyson is the first household name from outside the automotive industry to seize the clean-sheet design opportunities offered by electrification. Do not underestimate the significance of the Dyson car project, nor the scale of its ambitions. Some £2.5 billion has been ploughed into it, some 500 engineers…

Sir James Dyson’s eagerly anticipated electric car is likely to be a long, sleek crossover-style premium model that occupies roughly the same road space as a Range Rover but with completely different proportions from every other existing production car. Key details of the billionaire inventor’s thinking on electric vehicles have emerged from three patent applications made public on 9 May. They cover the car’s ultra-long wheelbase, unique ‘crossover’ body, unprecedentedly large and thin wheels, short body overhangs and unusually ‘fast’ windscreen. Dyson’s people are keen to point out that these patents don’t necessarily show the production car, which is tipped to be revealed in 2021, in its finished state. The Dyson car’s long-rumoured existence was confirmed in late 2017, when the inventor revealed plans to spend £2.5 billion of his own money…

Never let it be forgotten that Dyson makes a hair dryer that costs £299 – when you can buy something that’s meant to do the same job for £12.95. Such is its reputation for fascinating products and fine design that the eponymous Supersonic is a huge global hit. This success at finding markets others didn’t know were there has undoubtedly given Sir James Dyson the confidence to invest at least £2.5 billion of his own funds into building an electric car. And it helps already to be a builder of some of the world’s finest electric motors and a world-leading researcher into solid-state batteries. All this is why I’m tipping the Dyson car to be an eventual success, although it could take more time and money. It’s early on, but the seriousness…

Sir James Dyson’s eagerly anticipated electric car is likely to be a long, sleek crossover-style premium model that occupies roughly the same road space as a Range Rover but with completely different proportions from every other existing production car. Key details of the billionaire inventor’s thinking on electric vehicles have emerged from three patent applications made public on 9 May. They cover the car’s ultra-long wheelbase, unique ‘crossover’ body, unprecedentedly large and thin wheels, short body overhangs and unusually ‘fast’ windscreen. Dyson’s people are keen to point out that these patents don’t necessarily show the production car, which is tipped to be revealed in 2021, in its finished state. The Dyson car’s long-rumoured existence was confirmed in late 2017, when the inventor revealed plans to spend £2.5 billion of his…

Sir James Dyson came up with his electric car idea in the 1990s while experimenting with equipment to collect diesel particulates by centrifugal action. He knew exhaust pollution was harmful, but his attempts to sell clean-up technology were overtaken by official directives suggesting diesels were ‘clean and green’. What is your motivation for making an electric car? “Nobody was interested in our original exhaust clean-up idea, but we had a bright team developing high-speed electric motors for other Dyson products, we were researching air purification, we had our own aerodynamicists and we were developing solid-state batteries. Put those things together and you’ve the main elements of an electric car.” What’s your view of the sales potential of electric cars? “Seems to me industry commentators are under-egging the likely growth of the market. People will…