Tesla Model X in a plastic bubble of pollution. Photo: Tesla
One of the many advanced features on the Tesla Model X is the giant HEPA air filter, which can scrub the air of particles as small as 0.3 micrometers—one-third the size of Anthrax bacteria. Tesla fitted out the Model X with a Bioweapon Defense mode, which runs outside air through the HEPA filter, turns up the fan to its highest setting, and pressurizes the cabin slightly, ensuring that outside air can’t get in.
Does Bioweapon Defense Mode really work? Tesla has tested it out in some of the most polluted areas of the planet, but they’ve now performed the ultimate test: They parked a Model X in a bubble of pollution and pressed the Bioweapon Defense button.
The Model X was placed in a sealed plastic bubble, which was pumped full of air polluted with 1000 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) of 2.5 micrometer particulate matter (PM2.5). The EPA considers 12 µg/m3 of PM2.5 or less to be “good” air quality; 55.5-150.4 is considered to be unhealthy, and anything above 350.5 is hazardous. (Their scale stops at 500 µg/m3.)
According to Tesla, once the Bioweapon Defense button was pressed, the HEPA filter did its thing fairly rapidly. Within a minute, according to Tesla’s graphs, the air was as clean as a bad day in Mexico City. And within two minutes, the air was so clean that the pollutants no longer registered on their instruments.
What surprised the Tesla testers was that once the air inside the Model X was clean, it began to effectively scrub the air outside the Model X. Because the Bioweapon Defense mode continues to pull in outside air and pressurize the cabin, some of that cleaner air is bound to escape. Twelve minutes after the start of the test, pollutants outside the Model X had been reduced from 1000 µg/m3 to less than 650.
Does that mean the Tesla Model X will save you in the event of a biological weapon attack? Gizmodo called that into question. Most bacteria would get caught in the Model X’s 0.3 micrometer filter, but some viruses would be small enough to squeeze through. (There are filters with finer openings, but they pose too great an air restriction to be practical for automotive climate systems.) Furthermore, one needs to know when a biological attack has taken place in order to turn the system on.
“The key problem with the bio is knowing when it’s been released,” Col. Randall Larson, director of the Institute for Homeland Security, told Gizmodo. “You know, it’s not like there’s a big bang or something.”
Whether the Model X would truly provide protection in the event of a biological weapons attack may be open to question, but if your commute involves sitting in stop-and-go Los Angeles traffic, it’s pretty clear that you’ll breath easier—and healthier—in a Tesla.
