Dyson plotting electric car

A car that cleans your garage floor might be on the way, with reports from England suggesting premium vacuum-cleaner maker, Dyson, is building an electric car.

Despite at least two years of denials from Dyson founder, Sir James Dyson, British government documents reveal the company is using public funding to help develop its electric car.

The engineering company had its automotive secret leaked by the government itself, which named the company specifically in its National Infrastructure Development Plan, published online this week.

“The government is funding Dyson to develop a new battery electric vehicle at their headquarters in Malmesbury, Wiltshire,” the leaked version of the Plan revealed.

“This will secure £174m of investment in the area, creating over 500 jobs, mostly in engineering,” it insisted.

The company, noted for its bagless vacuum cleaners, hand dryers and bladeless fans, was regularly thought to be developing an electric car and has recently sent head hunters to search for engineering and aerodynamic muscle from car companies and Formula 1 teams.

Dyson has been non-committal about cars, with its CEO, Max Conze, last year admitting only “We are ruling nothing out”.

It has been patenting automotive ideas for at least five years, indicating any entry into the EV field would not be an impulsive one.

It also has a long track record of turning inventions into profitable consumer products, with its 68-year-old founder breaking through by designing a fast cargo ship in 1970, which is still on sale today, then designing the Ballbarrow.

Based in Wiltshire, England, the company also admits to planning a £1 billion investment in battery technology across the next five years and bought Sakti3, a solid-state battery maker and developer, last year.

Dyson plans to launch 100 new electrical products by 2018, but won’t comment on how many of those might be cars.