Tesla's engineers went overboard when they built the air filter for the Model X SUV.
When speaking about the safety features of the car during the Tuesday night reveal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the air filter was beyond top-of-the-line. He claimed the filter is the first true HEPA system -- a government standard that requires a filter to remove 99.97% of small particles -- on an automobile. But Musk didn't stop there.
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After claiming the air inside the Model X was as clean as a hospital's, he said the filter even has a "Bioweapon Defense mode."
"When the car is operating at maximum capability, we can't even detect any viruses, bacteria or spores," Musk said. "So if there's ever an apocalyptic scenario of some kind -- hypothetically -- you just press the bioweapon defense mode button."
After the audience began to laugh at his description, Musk responded, "This is a real button!"
It's unclear exactly what Musk meant by the car's "maximum capability," but presumably he was referring to different levels of effectiveness of the filtration system.
Musk showed the car's actual filter at the event, saying it's 10x as big as a regular car's. Besides particle filters, it also has three layers of carbon to filter harmful gases: hydrocarbons, acid gases and alkaline gases. The result is an air filter that is hundreds of times more effective than anything else on a vehicle, Tesla claims.
Given the megafilter on the car, it's sure to be a hit with the tinfoil-hat crowd. They'd better be able to pony up for it, though: The Tesla Model X starts at $132,000.
Tesla Model X: First Look