A Texas doctor found a novel use for his Rivian R1T electric truck when the power went out at his clinic on Thursday.
The power outage took place when a man was scheduled to undergo a vasectomy.
“When talking to the patient, we mentioned that we could just reschedule the procedure itself, or, if he was up for it, we could do the vasectomy using power from the truck. And he had a good laugh as well, and we agreed,” Dr. Christopher Yang of Austin said, according to WGLT.
The idea came from a staff member, The Drive reported.
“There was no lightbulb moment, but my staff and I were discussing whether to cancel the vasectomy due to the power outage. One of them jokingly mentioned that we should run it off of the Rivian,” Yang said.
“I’m not sure that this should be [the] planned use of the truck, but it’s definitely great to have that as a backup just in case.”
Yang took to Twitter to announce his feat to the world.
“I performed what is likely the world’s first [Rivian] powered vasectomy today,” he wrote.
I performed what is likely the world’s first @Rivian powered vasectomy today. Power in clinic went out, patient didn’t want to reschedule cause he already had time off. Electrocautery was normal, procedure went great! #rivianstories #rivian pic.twitter.com/VLDg91r37d
— Christopher Yang (@ChrisYangMD) September 1, 2022
The Drive noted that the R1T has four outlets, giving Yang access to the power he needed for his electrocautery machine, which melts tissue as a way to stop bleeding.
Yang said there were no complications.
“We were fortunate that my normal parking spot is close enough to a patient room to run an extension cord,” he said.
The doctor said he was prepared with a non-electric alternative in case Plan B failed.
“I had a backup (nonpowered) source of cautery in case the electrocautery failed, but did not have to use it,” he explained.
“The patient, his family, and I had a good laugh about it after!”
The Rivian R1T was named MotorTrend’s 2022 Truck of the Year.
“We loved its power-generation capabilities, but, you know, figured they’d be deployed to power camping equipment or maybe someone’s fridge when the power went out. A vasectomy? That’s one use case we didn’t think of, so, kudos Dr. Yang,” Alexander Stoklosa wrote for MotorTrend.
