In October 2019 Dyson halted work on its electric car project. The Dyson car, referred to internally as ‘N526’, was an SUV that aimed to challenge Tesla in the EV market. Seven months after the car was canned we have now seen pictures of it for the first time thanks to an exclusive interview James Dyson gave to the Sunday Times Rich list. He also revealed that and he laid down $940 million of his own money to try and get the project off the ground.
The N526 was so far along in production that James Dyson actually got a chance to drive it — secretly of course. It was also said to have the best range of any EV currently in market, with 600 miles (or roughly 965km) of range from a single charge. According to The Sunday Times, it could have allegedly managed this feat “even on a freezing February night, on the naughty side of 70mph on the motorway, with the heater on and the radio at full blast.”
The vehicle is also said to have been able to go from 0 to 62 mph (or, 0 to roughly 100 kmh) in 4.8 seconds and it had a top speed of around 200 kmh. The N526 also has twin lithium ion batteries that produced 536bhp and around 650nm of torque. Similar to the Tesla Model Y, the N526 was an SUV that had the ability to sit up to seven people.
Image: The Sunday Times
The project began in 2017 and according to the Sunday Times $3.7 billion was going to be invested into vehicle and battery development. Despite being given a 2020 launch date, in the end it was decided that the Dyson Car was no longer worth investing in.
“… though we have tried very hard throughout the development process we simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable,” said Dyson in an email to staff.
As Dyson revealed in the interview, over $940 million from his own back pocket has been invested into the project before it was shelved. Fortunately, the CEO can afford it. According to Sunday Times Rich List, Dyson has an estimated net worth of around $30 billion.
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