Tesla air filters beat california wildfire air pollution

Tesla cars have air filtration systems similar to systems used in hospitals, clean rooms, and the space industry. They developed a HEPA filtration system capable of stripping the outside air of pollen, bacteria, and pollution before they enter the cabin and systematically scrubbing the air inside the cabin to eliminate any trace of these particles. The end result is a filtration system hundreds of times more efficient than standard automotive filters, capable of providing the driver and her passengers with the best possible cabin air quality no matter what is happening in the environment around them.

Tesla installs filters that are in the H13 to H14 filter category.

High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters must satisfy certain standards of efficiency such as those set by the United States Department of Energy (DOE).

To qualify as HEPA by industry standards, an air filter must remove (from the air that passes through) 99.97% of particles that have a size greater-than-or-equal-to 0.3 microns.

In Tesla tests, a Model X was placed in a large bubble contaminated with extreme levels of pollution (1,000 µg/m3 of PM2.5 vs. the EPA’s “good” air quality index limit of 12 µg/m3). They then closed the doors and activated Bioweapon Defense Mode.

Not only did the vehicle system completely scrub the cabin air, but in the ensuing minutes, it began to vacuum the air outside the car as well, reducing PM2.5 levels by 40%. In other words, Bioweapon Defense Mode is not a marketing statement, it is real. You can literally survive a military grade bio-attack by sitting in your car.

This has now been demonstrated in real life. Tesla cars have been getting compliments by keeping the smoke and particles from California wildfires out of the air inside cars.

14 thoughts on “Tesla air filters beat california wildfire air pollution”

  1. So, in the case of a wildfire with a large quantity of particulate, how quickly will the filter clog, and is there any mechanism for clearing the clogging, such as reversing airflow? If the particulate is sticky/oily doesn’t that mean the filter effectively can’t be cleaned while in use and requires a swap?

  2. Sounds amazing, yet I remember riding in a low generation Prius about 20 years ago and being astonished that you couldn’t smell any manure driving by those cattle farms on the 5 north of LA.

  3. There is a broad, fuzzy and oft-crossed line between fantasy and science fiction.But Stan was clearly on the fantasy side of it. And not at all “future” oriented (at least in the main stream works).It’s the death of Star Wars, Star Trek AND Firefly that leaves us bereft of a vision of the future. Unless you count Westworld.

  4. Sounds amazing, yet I remember riding in a low generation Prius about 20 years ago and being astonished that you couldn’t smell any manure driving by those cattle farms on the 5 north of LA.

  5. Sounds amazing, yet I remember riding in a low generation Prius about 20 years ago and being astonished that you couldn’t smell any manure driving by those cattle farms on the 5 north of LA.

  6. Filter fouling will eventually (if breakthrough of particles does not occur, which, for these sizes, shouldn’t barring a tear in the filter) slow down the circulation of air to a non-useful amount. Depending on the decrease, it could dip below the requirements for 4 people to respirate properly and not succumb to toxicity. If the majority of the species it is separating is just smoke (bits of carbon in the air), then I can imagine a layer forming and becoming effectively sealed over time as the smaller particles eventually fill in the gaps between the larger particles. Backflushing with a burst of air could remove any reversible effects, but irreversible fouling will always be there. At the very least, you could probably extend its lifetime significantly. For example, reaching 10% (the fictional minimum limit to not die from performance, a backflush increases it back to 90%. Upon reaching 10% again, the next backflush cannot get back up to 90% due to irreversible fouling. Maybe 70 or 80%? Rinse, repeat, you get the idea. Hopefully it’s a linear decrease for each new start point after each backflush (some are) so you can calculate how long the entire lifetime will be.

  7. So, in the case of a wildfire with a large quantity of particulate, how quickly will the filter clog, and is there any mechanism for clearing the clogging, such as reversing airflow? If the particulate is sticky/oily doesn’t that mean the filter effectively can’t be cleaned while in use and requires a swap?

  8. Filter fouling will eventually (if breakthrough of particles does not occur, which, for these sizes, shouldn’t barring a tear in the filter) slow down the circulation of air to a non-useful amount. Depending on the decrease, it could dip below the requirements for 4 people to respirate properly and not succumb to toxicity.

    If the majority of the species it is separating is just smoke (bits of carbon in the air), then I can imagine a layer forming and becoming effectively sealed over time as the smaller particles eventually fill in the gaps between the larger particles. Backflushing with a burst of air could remove any reversible effects, but irreversible fouling will always be there.

    At the very least, you could probably extend its lifetime significantly. For example, reaching 10% (the fictional minimum limit to not die from performance, a backflush increases it back to 90%. Upon reaching 10% again, the next backflush cannot get back up to 90% due to irreversible fouling. Maybe 70 or 80%? Rinse, repeat, you get the idea. Hopefully it’s a linear decrease for each new start point after each backflush (some are) so you can calculate how long the entire lifetime will be.

  9. So, in the case of a wildfire with a large quantity of particulate, how quickly will the filter clog, and is there any mechanism for clearing the clogging, such as reversing airflow? If the particulate is sticky/oily doesn’t that mean the filter effectively can’t be cleaned while in use and requires a swap?

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