PSA's Vigo plant and CTAG are collaborating to develop ventilators

The world is changing completely in every sense, and the culprit behind this revolution is the coronavirus and its constant, cold lashings. To curb it, healthcare workers around the world, along with thousands of other workers, have pooled their efforts, but car manufacturers have also wanted to do their bit. A few weeks ago, SEAT announced that it had received the approval of the AEMPS to develop ventilators instead of cars, and PSA, together with the Automotive Technology Centre of Galicia (CTAG), will fulfil the same mission.

Indeed, the French company has turned its Vigo factory into a central hub for developing ventilators, which will help combat the pandemic. To do so, both entities are working hand in hand with Bionix, a Galician company whose main task is improving the effectiveness and efficiency of third parties.

With this premise, both PSA and CTAG have started working hard on designing the ventilators. To this end, they have focused on design, prototyping and functional and robustness testing, collaborating on the development of the electronic system that regulates the oxygen-air mixture and on alternative systems for driving it. In this way, the process of creating a production model ready for use in hospitals will be expedited.

Indeed, these dark times we are living through require all the sectors involved to work at 200% for a swift and optimal recovery. That is why both PSA and SEAT have found themselves in the position of setting aside—to a certain extent—car production in order to focus entirely on developing this medical device, which, unfortunately, is in short supply in many hospitals.

Other regions of Spain and other countries have also opted to manufacture items of this kind with the same goal: halting the spread of the coronavirus as soon as possible. This task will be made easier in the Galician factories thanks to various automotive parts supplied by PSA, which will be essential for building a ventilator that complies with the established regulations.

This is how the French group and various entities want to help flatten the curve as soon as possible and get everything back to normal. Very soon we will learn more about PSA’s ventilators and how they have tackled the relevant tests in order to be allowed inside a hospital.