American electric carmakers Tesla are using car parts to build ventilators to address the shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, promised that the company would start building ventilators after he was recently approached by the mayor of New York City who asked for the company’s help. The engineers from Tesla have been working hard to produce ventilators for patients affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent video uploaded on YouTube they have shown us how the ventilators have been built. A lot of parts from the Tesla Model 3 have gone into the building of these machines.
The machines have been designed completely by the engineers at Tesla. The computer and infotainment screen of the Model 3 along with other parts and suspension components from the Model S have also been used in the construction of these ventilators. We can see one of the engineers in the video explaining the concept in front of a ‘pneumatic schematic’ blueprint. He explains that Tesla is using a combination of medical machines and as many car parts to build these ventilators. They want to use as many car parts as they can as they are familiar with those components and those parts are easily available in volume to them.
As we can see in the video, the first machine displayed is a prototype model while the second one is a packaged piece. The engineers have said that there is still a lot of work to do but will try to help as many people as they can. Once ready, the machines will also have to get approval so it could take some time to see a production-ready piece.
News reports state that Elon Musk faced a lot of criticism from the public as he earlier tweeted expressing his doubtfulness about the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the severity of the pandemic reached an alarming rate, he donated thousands of masks and ventilators to hospitals in the US.
Other reports have stated that the ventilator video from Tesla displays a Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP) machine and not a high-end ventilator. Although, the FDA has recently approved the use of BiPAP machines to support patients with respiratory insufficiency in the situation where a shortage of high-end ventilators arises. Even though these machines made by Tesla might not be high-end ventilators, we feel that this is a good supporting move and great initiative from all the members from the company who are busy working in these difficult times to help save lives.
