Dyson’s $500 Million Tesla Competitor Revealed: New Photos - Forbes

The canceled Dyson electric vehicle that was intended to compete with Tesla.
Dyson

It was Volkswagen’s fault that Dyson’s electric car was canceled.

Dyson makes high quality fans, heaters, vacuum cleaners, and hair driers. A few years ago, the company was about to add another major product: cars. In fact, Dyson almost brought an electric SUV to market before the product was abrubtly canceled by Dieselgate, inventor and founder James Dyson recently revealed.

“We solved lots of problems that are traditionally associated with electric vehicles and together the team made great progress and delivered a car which was ready for production,” Dyson says on the company blog while also revealing new photos and information about the car and project.

“Dieselgate changed everything because all automotive manufacturers had no choice but to shift to electric – almost overnight.”

Because GM, Toyota, Ford, Renault, and other global car makers starting plans to build electric — and could fund those money-losing efforts by selling gas-burners — Dyson decided that it would not be economical to bring its SUV to market.

The car was five meters or 16.4 feet long and had significant ground clearance, which would drop at speed, Dyson says. The bottom was completely flat: no axles or other extrusions. Like a Mini, the wheels are in the corners; unlike a Mini, they’re extra-large, which Dyson says makes for “lower rolling resistance” and better bump handling.

Dyson made the engine themselves:

“Building on our years of experience with Dyson Digital Motor technology we developed a bespoke, integrated and highly efficient Electric Drive Unit (EDU) comprising Dyson digital electric motor, single speed transmission and state of the art power inverter,” Dyson says. “These compact and lightweight units were mounted on subframes at the front and rear of the car.”

James Dyson and and the Dyson prototype electric car.
Dyson

And the company had perhaps even more innovative thinking on an automotive user interface than Tesla, which famously has almost all controls in a single touch screen mounted between the driver and the front passenger.

The core thinking: never distract a driver.

“I also never wanted anyone to have to take their eyes off the road, so that was my starting point – so we have a heads-up display and all the controls are on the steering wheel,” Dyson says.

The prototype was drivable, and Dyson drove it himself. Those road tests happened on an unused British Ministry of Defense airfield in Hullavington that the company bought, however, not on public roads.

Dyson hid the battery and electronics for the car in an integrated sandwich in the floor.
Dyson

Ultimately, we’ll never know how well the Dyson EV would have driven. Or how it would have competed with Tesla ... which has been starting to show signs of significant profitability, at least before COVID-19.

James Dyson invested somewhere around $620 million into the project. Even though it was ultimately scrapped, however, that wasn’t all wasted.

“I have no regrets about having started the programme. We learned a lot and Dyson has benefited from a huge influx of engineering talent from the automotive industry – it has quickly been applied in other areas of our research and development.”

And the airfield?

It’s the new home of Dyson’s Robotics, Environmental Care, Professional and Lighting teams.

Let's block ads! (Why?)