Tesla Says That It Will Make Ventilators By Using Model 3 Parts

Last Sunday, Tesla posted a video that shows their first prototype of its future ventilator. It appears to be the fulfillment of Elon Musk's promise to utilize Tesla resources to manufacture ventilators so that the overloaded condition at hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic could be tackled in time. 

So, our carmaker, with its knowledge capability, is approaching the medical field in the expectation of helping people in need. 

According to Lars Moravia, who is the vice president of Tesla vehicle engineering, said with his mask on that they were attempting to assist the medical industry by using their own resources to make several ventilators. This meant that the medical deficient supply would not be taken away. 

In particular, the newly-developed device is able to track a patient’s intake of O2 and outtake of CO2 and show the information on the Model 3 infotainment touchscreen. Additionally, the infotainment computer of Model 3 is also responsible for the number crunching. 

Apparently, Tesla’s ventilators are still required to be certified by the US Food and Drug Administration, which could be a time-consuming process. Therefore, whether these machines can be produced with a great quantity or not is still unpredictable. But no matter how much time the process may take, Moravy claimed that they would try their best to help those who needed help. 

In parallel with Tesla, many car generators are putting effort into the fight against the coronavirus. General Motors and Ford are the two telling examples that are assigned to manufacture their own ventilators for US hospitals. Vacuum maker Dyson should also be listed, who has unveiled its own design already. 

Regarding Tesla’s previous donation, its contribution of 1255 ventilators from China to hospitals in Los Angeles is said to be praiseworthy by the California governor Gavin Newsom. 

However, critics quickly found out that Musk had donated the wrong type of ventilators, which should be the in-need invasive ones instead of non-invasive BPAP and CPAP machines used to treat patients with milder ailments, sleep apnea for example.

Moreover, NPR reported that health experts also indicated that these ventilators could potentially help the coronavirus to spread out more quickly through the virus aerosolizing process.