The recently spread coronavirus has left the whole world in a state of panic. Over 15 lac people have been diagnosed with the virus. Out of which, thousands of people have died. The death rate of the virus pandemic is not high. However, the number of people who need critical medical care is definitely huge. This is why all the nations are worried. The number of patients is increasing rapidly everywhere and the hospitals do not have proper medicare for these large numbers. Still, the hospitals are trying their best by increasing their capacities, so that more patients can be admitted. Some doctors from Italy also said that the sudden outbreak of the virus filled their hospital with COVID-19 patients. In such a bad condition, Tesla Ventilator can be a great help of the medical industry.
Tesla’s official YouTube channel uploaded a video on 5th April 2020, which was captioned “Tesla Ventilator.” The video was shot inside the Tesla Engineering lab. The video started with a Tesla engineer mentioning the coronavirus outbreak. And, then he said that they have been working on ‘Something.’ Then he mentions that Tesla has been trying to make ventilators out of the car parts. They are doing this to help the medical industry so that they do not run out of their supply. This can be a great help from Tesla to the world, taking into account the scale on which the company can help.
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The Idea Of Tesla Ventilator
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla tweeted in the mid of March, that Tesla and SpaceX, will make ventilators in case of shortage. To which the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, replied that they could use their help as they will require thousands of ventilators in the coming few weeks. Musk ensured him that they will connect with the mayor’s team to start the work as soon as possible.
Elon Musk’s statement “If there is a shortage,” bought up a lot of people saying that there surely will be a shortage of ventilators soon. The idea did not only strike to Musk’s mind. The companies like General Motors and Ford are also looking forward to making ventilators for the medical industry. If companies like them come forward to help the hospitals, then the patients can easily be given better treatments
The New Design Of Tesla Ventilator
Tesla refused to use the existing design of ventilators. This received a lot of criticism as everybody knows that making a new design can be time consuming. The engineer in the video describes that the Tesla ventilators are based on the Tesla car parts. He then explains the reason for choosing this new design. He says that they are using the parts because they know them inside out. They know their reliability and so, they can work faster with them. He added that these parts are available in large volumes in their labs. So by using them, they can produce more ventilators in less time.
The Design
The engineer then shows the high-level schematic design of the Tesla ventilator, that they have made. There were a lot of parts of the ventilator that were highlighted in red in the design and he informs that all of them are the Tesla car parts. He then explains the use of a ventilator, which is to push air inside a person’s lungs with the pressure and volume control and then exhale it, as they cannot do that for themselves. In layman terms, a ventilator helps people in breathing.
The Prototype
Then he moves to their first developed prototype of the Tesla ventilator. Then another engineer explains the complete model and tells all the Tesla car parts that have been used in it. But as the design was open, he then hands the video over to another engineer who tells the packaged version of the same ventilator. He then explains the Model 3 and Model S’s parts that have been used in the design. For example, Model 3’s infotainment system and screen have been used in the design to monitor the patient.
The video ends with the proper explanation of the working of the model. In the end, the Tesla engineer informs the viewers that there is still a lot of work that has to be done in the model. But they are putting in all their efforts to make sure that they can help some people out there.
Elon Musk’s Response To Coronavirus
When the outbreak of the virus began in the world, Elon Musk made some statements that led people to criticise him. Some of them are:
- Musk sent an email to his SpaceX employees, saying that the coronavirus panic is unnecessary and there are more chances of them dying from a car crash. He then tweeted, “The coronavirus panic is dumb.” Both of these things bought him tons of criticism.
- Musk kept his California’s factory open even after the shelter-in-place order was declared. Tesla’s HR head told the employees that their manufacturing lyes under the “essential business” and it will keep running. This was yet another reason for Musk to be criticised as he should have taken care of his employees in the first place.
- In another tweet, Elon Musk said that “Kids are essentially immune to the coronavirus.” Which again led people to point fingers at him. As it has been proven that even kids can become severely ill from the virus.
Elon Musk has been denounced quite frequently by people in the coronavirus pandemic for the statements he makes. But with his recent statement about the making of Tesla ventilators and then with the video coming out, Tesla is again considered as a Hero.
Also, General Motors and Ford have recently connected with two different medical firms. With which they will be able to produce their own ventilators for the medical industry. And companies like them are making the statement right that, “Together we can fight this. ”
