British vacuum maker Dyson is developing an electric car at its headquarters in Wiltshire, according to a report in the Guardian.
Like its vacuums, the electric vehicle is said to use a number of small, but highly efficient motors. Unlike its vacuums, most of the production of this vehicle will be funded by the British government.
The Guardian’s report cited a statement made by the British government on its website, which read: “The government is funding Dyson to develop a new battery electric vehicle at their headquarters in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. This will secure £174m ($245 million) of investment in the area, creating over 500 jobs, mostly in engineering.”
Those details have been removed from the document, which now only reads: ‘The government is providing a grant of up to £16m to Dyson to support research and development for battery technology at their site in Malmesbury [Dyson HQ].’
The news follows Dyson’s acquisition of battery startup Sakti3 late last year for $90 million, citing it had “developed a breakthrough in battery technology.” While Sakti3’s first batteries will likely land in Dyson’s cordless vacuums, Sakti3’s batteries can also be used to power electric cars.
Sakti3 creates ‘solid-state’ batteries (SSBs) that store 50 percent more energy than current models and could make gadgets smaller and safer.
Sakti3 has already designed an SSB with an energy density rating – the amount of energy stored it can store – of 1,100 watt hours per liter. This is said to be 50 percent higher than current lithium-ion batteries. Sakti3 has also demonstrated its prototype can survive more charge-discharge cycles than traditional Li-ion.
