Dyson gets ready to make an electric vehicle. Will it suck?

British company Dyson is moving one big step closer to production of an electric vehicle with further development of its technology centre, based in restored World War II hangars at Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire.

The company is perhaps best known for its hi-tech Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaners. Insert your own car/appliance puns here.

But it’s also a global technology company with engineering and testing operations in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.

Dyson employs more than 12,000 people worldwide including 4500 engineers and scientists – with an increasing proportion in South East Asia where production and operations also take place.

In September 2017, Dyson revealed that it had been working on a vehicle over the previous three years, with the aim of launching in 2021. The project builds on Dyson’s existing expertise in solid state batteries, motors, vision systems, robotics, HVAC and aerodynamics.

To date, Dyson has created a new EV technology centre with the restoration of two 1938 hangars. Four hundred members of the Dyson automotive team work in the space and a further three buildings are planned over the coming months.

Phase two of the Hullavington plan will also include more than 15 kilometres of vehicle test tracks.

The proposals include a dynamic handling track, stability platform, off-road route, hill and handling course, fast road route and test slopes.

The airfield was inactive until 2016, when Dyson purchased it with cross-Government support.

From left: Inventor and engineer James Dyson got his start with the Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner in the 1980s; Restoration of the 1938 hangars is just the start for Dyson’s EV research and development centre.