Tesla Engineers Design Ventilator Prototype
Engineers at Tesla Inc showed a prototype for a ventilator on Sunday evening in a video published on the company’s YouTube channel.
The design for the ventilators relies heavily on Tesla car parts, one of the engineers said, enabling the company to redeploy existing stock and produce the devices quickly.
According to the video, the design includes a touch screen, computer and control system from a Model 3 electric car.
Chief Executive Elon Musk has announced plans to reopen Tesla's New York factory to produce ventilators.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” said one of the engineers, “but we’re giving it our best effort.”
Governments globally have appealed to automakers and aerospace companies to help procure or make ventilators and other medical equipment amid the increasing number of coronavirus infections.
On March 30, Ford Motor said it would produce 50,000 ventilators in the following 100 days at a plant in Michigan in cooperation with General Electric’s healthcare unit, and could then build 30,000 per month as needed.