Progress on the Dyson electric car has received a boost after the business said it would build a ten-mile test track for the vehicle in Wiltshire.

The former airfield in Hullavington will see a total of £200m investment by the company, including the £84m already spent. The site is around five miles from Dyson’s headquarters in Malmesbury.

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There are around 400 automotive staff based at the Hullavington site. It is anticipated that further three buildings will open in the coming months, in order to create an additional 15,000 square metres of testing space.

Founded by James Dyson in 1991, the multinational company is known for a wide range of electric products including vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, but this project is its first foray into the automotive market.

First announced in 2017, the electric vehicle (EV) project remains shrouded in secrecy, with no prototype electric vehicle built, and no factory site for building the vehicle officially decided. The company has announced plans to begin manufacturing of the vehicle in 2020, and to start selling them from 2021. £1bn is being spent on developing the car, with another £1bn on making the battery.

Dyson is a privately owned company worth in the region of £9.5bn. Around £2.5bn is to be invested in its EV project. The company also believes that technologies developed for its modern vacuum cleaners such as the V10 can be adapted for electric vehicles. Speaking to GQ magazine, Dyson design engineer Dave Vaughn said: “There’s no reason why it can’t be scaled up. It’s just a case of using different materials that are stiffer and lighter.”

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The sole focus on electric vehicles, as well as investment in new technologies, makes Dyson’s investment more comparable to Tesla Motors than OEMs such as the VW Group who are also investing in EVs.

Last month the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) launched a ‘Plug-in Pledge’, a drive to see members’ combined plug-in vehicle fleet size surge over ten-fold from 50,000 currently to 720,000 by 2025.