Vacuum cleaner and hairdryer maker Dyson is doubling down on plans to release an electric vehicle (or “EV”) by 2020, with construction of a Singapore-based car manufacturing plant to begin before the end of the year.

The privately-owned UK company reportedly said it would be completed in 2020 “meeting our project timeline”.

Nothing is known about the Dyson EV, beyond a planned launch date of 2020-21.

The company – which made about $1.45 billion in profit in 2017 – also spent $364m on new buildings and car testing facilities in the UK earlier this year.

In an email to staff in October, Dyson chief Jim Rowan said the company’s existing footprint in Singapore, combined with the nation’s significant advanced manufacturing base, “made it a frontrunner”.

Mr Rowan admitted Singapore had a comparatively high cost base, but this was offset by access to high-growth markets, an extensive supply chain, and great technology expertise.

“It is therefore the right place to make high quality technology loaded machines, and the right place to make our electric vehicle,” he reportedly said.

llustration showing Dyson’s advanced automotive manufacturing facility in Singapore Source: Dyson
Artists impression of Dyson’s EV manufacturing facility in Singapore. Source: Dyson

Dyson first announced plans to spend billion on a “radical” EV in September last year using solid state batteries.

Boss James Dyson told employees last year that the company had developed tech for its home appliances that he believed could be useful in the development of an EV.

“At this moment, we finally have the opportunity to bring all our technologies together into a single product,” he said.