Tesla shows prototype of ventilator made out of car parts

Tesla is offering a look at the ventilators it's making out of car parts amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Tesla engineers in a YouTube video uploaded Sunday explained they're "trying to make some ventilators out of some car parts so that we can help out the medical industry without taking away from their supply," showing a prototype for a ventilator that's "heavily based on Tesla car parts" and makes use of the Model 3's infotainment system.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who last month claimed that "coronavirus panic is dumb," pledged that the company would make ventilators "if there's a shortage," prompting New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to urge them to do so. "New York City is buying," de Blasio wrote. New York has been facing a ventilator shortage, and de Blasio said Sunday that "we believe now we can get to Tuesday or Wednesday with the supplies we have."

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Musk recently donated ventilators to New York that reportedly aren't the kind hospitals most need. The Verge notes that Tesla "has been criticized for attempting to invent a new ventilator rather than utilizing an existing design." In the video, the Tesla engineers say they wanted to use parts "that we know really well," that "we know the reliability of," and that are "available in volume."

Asked on Sunday about Tesla's efforts, though, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said, "Nobody can make you a ventilator right now in two weeks. That's General Motors, that's Ford, that's Elon Musk. ... their time frame, frankly, doesn't work for our immediate apex because whether we're talking two days or 10 days, you're not going to make ventilators at that time." Brendan Morrow