Here’s How Tesla Is Making Ventilators Out of Available Car Parts

Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed Tesla had donated “hundreds” of ventilators to New York hospitals overwhelmed by the spike in number of new Coronavirus infections. Musk said the FDA-approved machines were either Tesla’s or had been ordered specifically for the purpose of having them donated.

Reports then claimed that these ventilators weren’t exactly what was needed to help out patients experiencing respiratory failure, and that Musk was riding the Coronavirus wave for extra publicity. They were BiPAP (bi-level positive airway pressure) machines, which supply pressurized air into the airways to help maintain a consistent breathing pattern. BiPAP machines are used in cases of sleep apnea or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but are less than effective in the ICU.

Tesla (and Musk) ignored the negative buzz and continued with the plan. With the first donation of ventilators, Musk said he was looking forward to re-opening the New York Gigafactory to start building ventilators there. The video at the bottom of the page could have been filmed there.

It’s a walkthrough video of the process underway to build a Tesla ventilator, using mostly available car parts: this time, a medical-grade machine. It uses the Model 3 infotainment system and the Model 3 computer, a suspension air tank in lieu of an oxygen mixing chamber, and the Model 3 touchscreen as controller.

For all the details included in the video, the Tesla engineers working on the machine don’t say anything about a possible completion date or when these ventilators will be shipped to hospitals. But by the looks of things, they’re pretty far ahead already.