2017-09-26 15:23:28 -0400Dyson, the company known for high-tech vacuum cleaners and those hand dryers that blast air, is on the road to adding cars to its list of products.
The company announced Tuesday morning that British founder James Dyson told employees about the company’s plans to launch a battery electric vehicle by 2020.
An email went out explaining the company’s history with air pollution and vehicles, which goes back to 1988 when Dyson worked on filtering vehicle exhaust. Drawings were included of early designs and concepts.
After 1993, the project stalled out, but Dyson said he was still determined to build something. “It has remained my ambition to find a solution to the global problem of air pollution,” he wrote.
Having advanced the hair dryer and cord-free vacuum, Dyson acknowledged it’s time to work on a major polluter: cars.
“Rather than filtering emissions at the exhaust pipe, today we have the ability to solve it at the source,” he said, announcing a team of 400 (and growing, with Dyson engineers and auto industry leaders) and his commitment to a $2 billion Euro (more than $2.3 billion) investment.
Few additional details about the vehicle project have been released, but a company spokesperson said Dyson has had a “longstanding interest in the problem of vehicle pollution.”
Looks like Dyson isn’t just blowing hot air.
