Dyson Comes Clean On Electric Car Project
New images of British billionaire Sir James Dyson’s cancelled electric car project have been revealed by the company highlighting the seven-seat plug-in SUV in detail. The protoype had a claimed range of 600 miles on a single electrical charge. Dyson invested £500million ($625million) of his own money into its development before project cancellation.
“I’ve always been horrified, even as a child, by the cloud of black smoke that would emerge from the back of vehicles. More recently petroleum and diesel engines have become less smoky, partly because they have made the particulate smaller; it may look better to the naked eye, but they are still not free of dangerous gases. Yet, problems with internal combustion engines, and diesel exhaust particulate, continued to be ignored by traditional automotive manufacturers and governments. Tesla started seriously exploring electric cars, but traditional ‘automotive’ had no interest what-so-ever” comments James Dyson in a recent press release on why he terminated his electric car project.
“So, some years after the diesel exhaust project started, when we had other technologies of our own, like batteries and motors, we returned to the problem and started developing a car. We put together an exceptional team, built world-class facilities, and developed a radical car which was loaded with technology. 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.
Dieselgate changed everything because all automotive manufacturers had no choice but to shift to electric – almost overnight. Electric cars are considerably more expensive to make and manufacturers are making big losses on the sale of each car. These losses matter less to them because the sales of electric cars allow them to offset against selling traditional vehicles on which they make a good profit. As a technology-based car – being developed by a non-automotive company – we realised that our car was suddenly no-longer commercially viable.
It was a difficult decision to stop, because hundreds of engineers, scientists and designers, had poured everything into the project and it was a great engineering achievement. But 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.
We developed our car from the ground-up, and didn’t borrow parts from other manufacturers. It was designed as a platform, so we could design other body styles to sit on it. The first model was an SUV; at speed, it would drop itself down to be more aerodynamic and then it could be raised up to give it even more ground clearance.
When I first drove our car, I felt exactly the same as when I first used our hairdryer prototype, or the vacuum cleaner – I enjoyed it, but I was not surprised, in fact we immediately looked for improvements! When you’re involved in designing and developing every little detail of a product it takes away the surprise of seeing or using it for the first time.
The car is exactly five meters long, with big wheels and huge ground clearance which is helped by the fact it has a completely flat bottom. The wheels are actually one of the most interesting aspects; because of their size, you get lower rolling resistance and you can ride bumps and potholes more easily – it’s exactly the opposite of a Mini. The wheels are right in the corners and I don’t think you’ll find any other car with the rear wheels as far back as this. The placement and size of the wheels gave us some unexpected advantages in comfort and road holding.
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. These compact and lightweight units were mounted on subframes at the front and rear of the car.
The high capacity battery pack assembly was designed as an integral part of the body structure to optimise both weight and the space available for occupants in the cabin as well as providing the necessary rigidity and impact protection. The aluminium battery pack casing was flexible in design to allow for a variety of possible sizes and types of battery cell solution to be fitted throughout the life of the vehicle platform without the need for any significant re-engineering.
The most striking effect when you get inside is the feeling of space. This is because the wheels are placed at the extremities of the four corners and combined with the absence of the car engine and exhaust pipes, you have the internal space of a long wheelbase SUV without the disadvantage of the massive external body.
I hate the 1930s armchair look that car seats typically have and I haven’t yet found a car seat that has proper lumbar support. We wanted a more elegant, structural seat, with well-considered posture support. When you sit in this, it gives you that support in all the right areas. The car has three rows of seats, capable of seating seven adults in comfort.
We also used our own air filtration technology in the car to control the environment, not just in terms of temperature but also to clean the air. 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.”
To view additional images and read the complete Dyson EV story click the link below.
For more information: www.dyson.co.uk
