Dyson Drops Automotive Plans and Moves Towards Robotics and AI
03-12-2020 | By Sam Brown
Dyson, the company famous for its vacuum cleaners, has decided to move away from electric vehicles and into robotics and AI. Who is Dyson? Why have they dropped their electric vehicle plans, and what do they hope to achieve from robotics and AI?
Who is Dyson?
Dyson Ltd is a British company founded by James Dyson in 1991. The first product developed by Dyson was the world’s first cyclonic vacuum cleaner which removed the need for a bag in traditional vacuums. While Dyson was the first to develop the cyclonic vacuum, they are not the inventors of cyclonic separation; this was already established in industries needing to separate dust and particles to filter air continually.
While Dyson vacuums are by far their most famous range of products, Dyson also produces several other products including air purifiers, hand dryers, bladeless fans (the term bladeless is questionable due to the use of a small high-speed fan), and lights. Currently, Dyson operates worldwide, has over 12,000 employees, and a revenue of over £4.4 billion.
Dysons Electric Vehicle Plans
In 2016, Dyson had begun a secrete project to develop and manufacture an electric car which was aimed at more niche markets (i.e. not for mass-production). While not many details surround the vehicle developed, Dyson had planned to invest more than £2 billion. Half of this funding would be for the development of the vehicle itself, while the other half would be dedicated to developing battery technology. Devoting such funds to the batteries alone makes perfect sense when considering that electric cars are only as good as their batteries; the more charge they can hold the further they can go.
The project, which had over 400 employees, was only made public in 2017, and Dyson announced their goal of producing the car by 2021. In February, more details regarding the electric vehicle under development were announced, including its car type (SUV), dimensions (5m x 2m), and its weight (2.6 tons). At one point during the development, Dyson intended to use solid-state battery technology, and the resultant vehicle would have cost £150,000.
However, in 2019, Dyson released a statement regarding the electric vehicle project and announced that despite their best efforts, the electric car would not be commercially viable. With such a large price tag, the market for such vehicles is incredibly small, and the project to date had used £500 million. While only one fully working prototype exists, the 500 workers on the project have returned to other projects Dyson is working on.
Enter Robotics and AI
The phrase “when one door closes another opens”, applies very well to Dyson as the closure of their electric vehicle project is seeing them turn to new areas of industry’ AI, Robotics, and Energy Storage. According to financial times, Dyson has announced that they will be investing £2.75 billion on the for mentioned areas over the next five years. The founder, James Dyson, said in a statement that Dyson would be doubling the number of products in their portfolio by 2025.
While it is increasingly common for companies to invest in technologies such as AI and robotics, investing in energy storage is of particular interest in Dyson’s case. While the EV project may have dried up with no real return, the development of the vehicles electric batteries may provide Dyson with a head start.
One of the biggest challenges faced by green technologies is the need for energy storage when unreliable sources of green energy reach their peak. For example, the wind is not always about, and if the wind increases during a time of low energy demand, windmills are either de-rated or disconnected. Energy storage systems would instead allow such energy sources to store their excess charge into a battery system, and then this power can be released to the grid when demand increase.
If Dyson has been able to produce effective solid-state batteries, these could be a key technology in future energy storage solutions. Solid-state batteries, unlike their liquid counterparts, are not prone to drying up which itself can cause failure, and are more resilient to catastrophic damage. Such batteries also have greater stability and may provide a more economical battery technology compared to traditional methods.
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