Carmakers are playing catch-up with Tesla on air filtration

Among carmakers, Tesla Inc. was in the vanguard on clean air. The company’s breathlessly named Bioweapon Defense Mode has been on the market since 2016; it recirculates cabin air through a HEPA filtration system, not unlike household air-filter appliances that became popular during the pandemic.

“Bioweapon Defense Mode is not a marketing statement, it is real,” Tesla promised when the system debuted. “You can literally survive a military grade bio attack by sitting in your car.”

Big Auto is now playing catch-up as the rest of the industry realizes there’s room for improvement in air filtration — or at least room for revenue. When Mercedes-Benz Group AG unveiled its EQS sedan in the spring of 2021, it also debuted an “energizing air control system” with three layers of filtration.

The system, which is available on the carmaker’s newest electric models, catches tiny viruses and cancels smog with activated carbon. When the air outside gets gritty, it automatically seals the cabin.

During a test drive of Mercedes’ new EQE SUV in New Jersey in June, Canadian wildfire smoke had brought the air quality index outside to a whopping 350, on par with the worst breathing conditions in the world. The car cut through that apocalyptic orange haze like a spaceship on a toxic planet, with an in-cabin air quality index of just 23.

“There was a clear consumer demand” for cleaner air, says Christopher Gödde, head of thermal comfort and air quality at Mercedes. “So we are bringing air quality, from a health perspective, to the next level.”

Of course, drivers will have to pay to level up: The Mercedes system is only available on the newest electric models, as a $450 add-on.

BMW, meanwhile, entered the air wars two years ago with a similar system. “The trigger for the development was mostly highly polluted, industrial areas like Indonesia and Beijing,” says Andreas Wehrmeier, the company’s head of air quality. “Though there was one guy who was asking for the nanofilter on his historic BMW.”