Vacuum Celeb Dyson Wants to Build Solar-Powered Cars

Did you know Britain has a “most famous inventor”? Neither did we, but Sir James Dyson’s creation intrigues us.

Dyson — best known for inventing the trendy/overpriced “bagless vacuum cleaner” that made him a fortune — envisions a future of solar-powered electric cars, collecting energy with either solar panels or a solar power source at home you could plug your car into. He sees photo-voltaic panels as the clean future of the automobile, going so far as to boldly predict that in 10 years plug-in electric vehicles will outnumber gas-powered ones.

You can excuse us for being a bit skeptical since we’re still waiting on Chevy’s Volt and evidence that battery technology can deliver the same kind of speed, range and convenience as standard gasoline engines.

Still, we so badly want to believe Dyson, and some of his innovations give us a glimmer of hope. (Have you seen his hand dryer?) The Dyson Digital Motor that made his fortune in vacuums weighs half what a similarly sized motor does, and with the aid of a computer chip turns faster than a Formula One racecar. Dyson thinks he can apply the technology to cars.

Powering a car is somewhat different than a vacuum cleaner, but we’ll hold out hope that Dyson will provide the kind of improbable breakthrough he envisions.

Dyson Working on New Generation of Fast, Green Cars (The Independent)