After spending more than $850 million CAD of his own money to develop an electric vehicle (EV), James Dyson has for the first time revealed new details of the cancelled EV that was going to be the next Tesla Killer.
In an interview with The Sunday Times for its annual rankings of the UK’s wealthiest people, Dyson revealed his EV would have had a 965km (600 mile) range thanks to its solid-state batteries which perform better in varying climates.
Along with the impressive range, the luxurious seven-seater was going to have an estimated 0-60mph time of 4.8 seconds, and a top speed of 201km/h (125mph).
After revealing the project in 2017, Dyson was hoping to begin the first deliveries of the vehicle in early 2021. After a few years he instead decided to cancel the development of the EV, coming to the realization that in order to be commercially viable it would have to sell for around $255,000 CAD. “There’s huge sadness and disappointment. Ours is a life of risk and of failure. We try things and they fail. Life isn’t easy.”, Dyson was quoted as saying.
The EV division of Dyson employed as many as 600 people, many of which were reassigned within Dyson after the cancellation. The company, famous for its vacuum cleaners, also recently spent millions of dollars developing ventilators to be used in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
