Dyson is thinking beyond the vacuum with electric car ambitions

The British technology company most known for its vacuums revealed that it’s working on electric vehicle (EV) technology.

Now that its vehicle patents are public the company is quick to point out that its vehicle might never see the light of day, but beyond that, it seems confident and excited about the EV technology it’s working on.

In an email from the company’s CEO James Dyson to its employees, he says “developing new technology is an energizing and exciting experience: our vehicle project is just that. It will be entirely designed by Dyson, manufactured by Dyson, and sold by Dyson.”

So right off the hop, it looks like the company is going to be moving forward with this tech and further in the email he explains that the company has a team of 500 people working on the project across Singapore, the U.K. and other locations.

The U.K. team is working at the secretive Dyson Hullavington Airfield, and the CEO says, “Hangar 181 is now complete with testing facilities including climatic chambers and a rolling road, and Hangar 85 is where we will construct vehicles for the latest phase of testing, starting next month.” In addition to this space, the company is about to break ground on another testing facility in Singapore.

While Dyson says that the patents don’t reveal what the car will look like, they do hint at “some of the ways in which this vehicle could differ from the status quo and [they] depict a vehicle which has been developed from the bottom up — built with range and efficiency in mind from the outset.”

Three of the things that Dyson highlights in his email are large wheels and a new vehicle architecture and aerodynamic improvements.

In terms of wheels, he says that “the patents show a car with very large wheels, giving a low rolling resistance and high ground clearance. This makes a vehicle suited to city life and rough terrain but could also contribute to increased range and efficiency — vital in a vehicle where every joule of power must be used wisely.”

He followed that up by talking about the vehicle’s aerodynamics and how the driver’s seat will recline beyond what you’d expect from a car to give the windshield a more aerodynamic angle. Dyson says that this design help with range.

The patent also suggests that the vehicle will feature a broad wheelbase so that the company can squeeze the largest battery possible between the tires.

At the end of the email, Dyson states that these are just patents and that they might not be part of the car that it plans to launch in 2021. Still, this shows that the company is very committed to building an EV and that it seems somewhat close to showing one off.

Image source: Dyson