Tesla, along with many other industrial firms, is working on multiple fronts to help alleviate a shortage of ventilators. The company has bought surplus ventilators from China, and distributed them to medical personnel around the US, and is also reportedly working with medical device manufacturer Medtronic to build ventilators at the New York Gigafactory.
Now the company has released a video describing an effort to design a ventilator using parts from Tesla vehicles. The idea is that Tesla’s engineers will be working with components that they have on hand and are very familiar with—an added benefit is that they won’t be using traditional ventilator parts that are already in high demand.
The mad scientists in the Tesla lab give us an overview of the design, which uses an air tank, sensors and filters that would normally be going into new EVs. A Model 3 touchscreen has been repurposed to display a patient’s lung function.
There’s no word on when the new ventilator will be ready for delivery to hospitals, or on whether it includes a Ludicrous mode. (Actually, a version of Emissions Testing mode might be nice, to provide some comic relief to stressed doctors and nurses.)
Sources: Tesla, Popular Mechanics, InsideEVs