When many hear the name Dyson, they think of expensive and rather cool
looking vacuum cleaners. However, if Dyson namesake Sir James Dyson has
anything to say about it, the Dyson name will in the future be synonymous with
electric cars.
According to The Independent, Dyson and his design firm are working
on a lightweight but
powerful electric motor that would be ideal for use in electric cars. Dyson
told The Independent, “They're
(electric cars) quiet and they're pollution free.”
Dyson believes that electric cars could overcome their current drawbacks of
limited range and low speeds. Dyson says that there are fantastic opportunities
to make electric cars lighter. Making the car lighter would help to increase
both its speed and its range.
Dyson foresees future electric cars being recharged form solar panels on the
roof rather than hooking to the power grid for charging. The Dyson company has
an extra-strong digital motor that is half the weight of normal motor, which
would presumable help increase the range of an electric vehicle using the
motor. The Dyson Digital Motor spins at 10,000 RPM and has so far only been
used by the company in two vacuum cleaners and the Dyson Airblade hand cleaner.
What Car editor Steve Fowler told The Independent, “Dyson
certainly has a history of producing innovative electrical products. But
there's a fair difference between producing electric motors for vacuum cleaners
or washing machines and cars.”
It would be interesting to see what sort of design Dyson would come up with
for his electric vehicle. Hopefully the Dyson electric car would be much more
attractive than the G-Wiz -- Britain’s most popular electric car.
Perhaps Dyson could design something with looks more along the lines of the
undeniably sexy Tesla
Roadster that is now in production.