The company said Tuesday that it plans to break into the automotive industry by releasing a series of electric vehicles, capitalizing on its long-standing know-how in batteries and electric motors.
Dyson reportedly plans to spend about $2.6 billion on the initiative, with nearly half that total being spent on the battery technology to be deployed in the first of the new vehicles, and the other half to be spent on the design, development and construction.
According to the Financial Times of London, the initial design effort for the first Dyson electric vehicle is already underway at one of its facilities in the United Kingdom.
Singapore stood out as a potential site for building the vehicle for a number of reasons, company officials said. Among them, a skilled workforce and numerous links with supply chains. Singapore also has a pending free trade agreement with Japan and an existing agreement with China, the world’s largest EV market.
Dyson chief executive Jim Rowan told his staff in an email circulated Tuesday morning that the company’s "existing footprint and team in Singapore, combined with the nation's significant advanced engineering expertise, made it a frontrunner."
Construction of Dyson's electric vehicle plant in Singapore is expected to begin before the end of the year and to be completed in 2020. If that schedule holds, the first vehicles could roll off its assembly line in 2021.
