Dyson, which has been selling hair dryers for 22 years, spent 17.7 billion to build such a car (reportedly priced at 880,000 yuan)

Annie Qianming from Aofei Temple
Produced by QuantumBit | Official Account: QbitAI

Dyson, which once made headlines for its high-priced "curling iron" that cost more than 3,000 yuan, once again shocked netizens.

This home appliance giant, famous for its hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, electric fans, etc., has just disclosed new progress in car manufacturing.

This is the first time the outside world has seen clearly what kind of car Dyson will build since he announced that he would invest 2 billion pounds (about 17.7 billion yuan) in the car manufacturing project:

The 7-seater crossover layout, large wheels and long wheelbase design look a bit cool.

Previously, Dyson's car manufacturing was not well received. Netizens' first reaction was "It's not even close to the truth", "This is even possible", "It's too much", and they made fun of it while speculating:

• A sanitation truck? The kind that drives along the road and automatically vacuums everything.

• Also charging for two hours and working for 30 minutes?

• Dyson will install hair dryers on air-conditioning vents, vacuum cleaners on windshield wipers, massage chairs on seats, and curling irons on gear levers.

Faced with netizens' strong complaints, Dyson decided to use patents to speak for itself.

This newly disclosed patent includes the Dyson car's overall dimensions and proportions, details of its body, suspension, and wheels, as well as its powertrain.

Automotive media Autocar predicts that the car will be priced at around 100,000 pounds, or about 880,000 yuan .

Dyson said it would significantly increase car testing next month and that more than 500 people were already working on the project.

Design Details

An internal email sent by Dyson founder James Dyson included design drawings of his first car.

This is an ultra-long wheelbase crossover vehicle positioned in the mid-to-high-end market, which is completely different from the traditional British 4×4 (4 wheels and 4 drives) vehicle.

Size and proportions

Overall, the Dyson electric car is close to the standard version of the Land Rover Range Rover in length, about 5 meters, and the height is about 165 centimeters.

However, compared to the Range Rover, the Dyson electric car has a wheelbase 40 cm longer, at approximately 330 cm. Its ground clearance is 4-6 cm higher than the Range Rover's 22 cm, resulting in a high-slung, low-roof design.

From the layout point of view, the driving position of Dyson electric vehicles is designed to be relatively forward. It is a 7-seat design, and the middle and rear passengers are slightly higher than the front passengers to obtain a better view.

Automotive media Autocar believes that the slightly forward-facing driver's seat may indicate that the Dyson electric car may have a dual-engine design.

In addition, the frontal area of ​​the entire vehicle body is kept to a minimum, with special consideration given to aerodynamic efficiency.

Body, suspension and wheels

Dyson has confirmed that the car will feature an aluminum body to minimize its weight.

The patent image shows a platform-shaped battery area under the vehicle body, which wraps the battery in this sturdy structure. The suspension can adjust the height and can automatically level.

Patent design drawings show that Dyson is considering making the wheels larger to improve efficiency.

Autocar believes that this design is expected to have a wheel diameter of 23-24 inches and a longitudinal section parameter of 45-55 thin tires. Dyson himself said that this type of wheel has less rolling resistance, much smaller than a wide wheel, so it has greater inertia, which helps with feedback braking.

Batteries and powertrain

While Dyson's patent doesn't reveal details of the powertrain, Autocar predicts the car may not be powered solely by batteries but may also include a hybrid system that uses hydrogen or gasoline.

Dyson himself has previously claimed that the company is researching two different types of solid-state batteries.

As for the car's motor, Autocar speculates that there may be more than one. Dyson has been developing engines for many years, so transferring this technology to cars doesn't seem that difficult.

Overall, the new car continues the unique style of inventor James Dyson.

Dyson said the car team currently has more than 500 employees and will increase testing tasks for the car next month. The car is scheduled to be launched in 2021 .

British automotive media outlet Autocar also gave a price prediction: The Dyson electric car will cost £100,000 (approximately 880,000 RMB) .

Weibo users commented: "It's too low! It can't be lowered without 1.5 million."

Why would a small appliance giant suddenly turn to the huge and much more complex automotive industry?

This is an interesting story.

Why did Dyson build a car? 22 years of technology integration

Now, Dyson’s official website has a dedicated electric vehicle section, alongside Dyson’s well-known products such as vacuum cleaners.

At the beginning of this column page, there is a passage from Dyson founder James Dyson, explaining why Dyson built a car:

We have been working on motors, batteries, aerodynamics, vision systems and robotics for 22 years. Now it is time to combine all our knowledge and experience into one big project: electric vehicles.

Dyson said that he had begun to get involved in the automotive field as early as 1990. At that time, he developed a device to filter particulate matter in car exhaust.

In Dyson's view, making cars is "returning to the starting point."

Signs that Dyson was about to officially enter the car manufacturing industry began in September 2016.

At that time, Aston Martin's product development director Ian Minards jumped to Dyson, and the industry began to consider the possibility of Dyson making cars.

A year later, in September 2017, Dyson officially announced his car-making plan: a £2 billion investment in research and development, half going to the car and the other half to batteries. Dyson also explicitly stated that the car would use solid-state batteries, rather than lithium-ion batteries.

According to the introduction on the official website, Dyson has invested 200 million pounds to establish a dedicated electric vehicle R&D center in the UK. It is also building a facility dedicated to manufacturing electric vehicles in Singapore, which is expected to be completed in 2020.

James Dyson said that electric vehicles will become the company's largest source of revenue in the next few years, and other products such as hair dryers and vacuum cleaners will pale in comparison.

Moreover, the car Dyson wants to build is an electric car that is "completely different" from existing models. Of course, like all Dyson products, it is not a cheap electric car.

Coming to disrupt the automotive industry again?

When Dyson officially announced his car-making plan, the Financial Times commented that the investment of 2 billion pounds was Dyson's most extravagant gamble ever.

Why do I say that? Because Dyson is a company built on big bets.

James Dyson was so tired of looking at and using the vacuum cleaner at home that he decided to build one himself. But vacuum cleaners are not easy to make, and his decision to build one was a gamble:

Mortgage property and incur millions of pounds in debt.

After five years and more than 5,000 models, they finally designed a dual-cyclone vacuum cleaner that does not require a dust bag.

This product not only made James Dyson successful, but also created Dyson himself.

Later, with its bold and avant-garde design, it developed bladeless fans, hair dryers and other products that became popular all over the world, winning it a large number of fans.

In 2018, the launch of the Dyson curling iron drove a lot of women crazy, and many men suffered (manual dog head).

After all, Dyson is too expensive:

A sweeping robot costs over 6,000 yuan, a vacuum cleaner over 5,000 yuan, a fan over 4,000 yuan, and curling irons and hair dryers can both cost over 3,000 yuan...

But the high price didn't stop people from buying it. Dyson's revenue continued to rise, and its founder James Dyson's net worth reached $13.8 billion, making him the richest man in the UK at one point.

Dyson's popularity isn't just due to its unique design; it's also due to the opportune time of consumer upgrades. The same passion James Dyson put into developing his vacuum cleaner has also permeated the company.

Its global CEO Max Conze said in an interview in 2017 that Dyson needs to invest 7 million pounds in research and development every week, equivalent to 365 million pounds per year, or about 3.2 billion yuan.

This time, the direct investment of 2 billion pounds is enough to show Dyson's determination. It is no wonder that the Financial Times called it a "big gamble" and believed that if successful, it could redefine Dyson.

Relatively speaking, the comments from netizens seem much more "cute", and many people have begun to put other Dyson products in their cars.

There are humans better than vacuum cleaners: strategic partners for sanitation workers.

Someone compared it to a hair dryer: Does the driver and passenger seats have built-in hair dryers? The heating system must be much better.

Some people also said: What happened to the rear of the car...was it cut with a knife?

What do you think?