James Dyson tells us he read a paper in 1988. This paper said diesel-engine exhaust gases were responsible for the premature deaths of lab rats. Ever since, he’s been hard at work trying to solve the problem of air pollution, and today, we see his first concrete step.

Ladies and gentlemen, Dyson – the maker of vacuum cleaners and those quite cool fans – intends to build a full electric car by the year 2020, following a £2bn (RM11.3 billion) investment.

“Some years ago, observing that automotive firms were not changing their spots,” he reveals in an open letter to Dyson employees, “I committed the company to develop new battery technologies. I believed that electrically powered vehicles would solve the vehicle pollution problem.”

He cites the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer and cordless vacuum line as examples of innovation in digital motor technology. Though – and we’re just speculating here – powering a car is a little bit more difficult than a hair drier. We digress.

“We’ve starting building an exceptional team that combines top Dyson engineers with talented individuals from the automotive industry,” Dyson says. Apparently, the team is “already over 400 strong”, and – if you’ve been sucked into this pitch – Dyson is “recruiting aggressively”

There’s no word on the specifics. There’s not even a sketch on what it might look like. “The project will grow quickly from here but at this stage we will not release any information,” Dyson says. “Competition for new technology in the automotive industry is fierce and we must do everything we can to keep the specifics of our vehicle confidential.”

So, um, that’s about your lot. We repeat, Dyson – the maker of vacuum cleaners and those quite cool fans – intends to build a full electric car to rival stuff from Tesla and the rest.

Reckon they’ll clean up, or will it, um, suck? Please – for the love of all that’s vacuum-able, insert better puns than we’ve just done.