Dyson is looking to recruit 300 additional staff as it pushes forward with plans to launch an electric vehicle by 2019.
Autocar reports that 400 people are already working on Dyson’s EV project and that Dyson will soon move work to its second research and development site in Britain, located at Hullavington Airfield.
Dyson’s first EV will be a premium model focused towards tech-oriented customers and produced in numbers below 10,000 units. The vacuum cleaner giant has already pledged 2 billion pounds ($2.75 billion) to the project and received support from the British government.
The company intends on using advanced solid-state batteries in all of its EVs. If its planned 2019 launch date for the first model is achieved, this could make the firm the first to bring such advanced batteries to the automotive sphere. Companies included Toyota, BMW, and Porsche are all working on solid-state batteries.
Recently speaking about the car, company founder Sir James Dyson said the brand won’t outsource production of the vehicle.
“Wherever we make the battery, we’ll make the car; that’s logical. So we want to be near our suppliers; we want to be in a place that welcomes us and is friendly to us, and where it is logistically most sensible. And we see a very large market for this car in the Far East.”
Two mass-produced EVs are planned to follow the initial model.