Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has announced that the company plans to reopen its Giga New York factory "as soon as humanly possible" to make ventilators. The head of the California-based electric vehicle manufacturer was among the first carmakers in the US to offer to make ventilators for coronavirus patients, after the United States appealed for donations of respirator masks to combat the shortage. Reportedly, Tesla has started working with medical device company Medtronic Plc and is fast on track to start production of ventilators at its Fremont plant, in San Francisco Bay Area. And New York will be next.
Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible. We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2020
Other U.S. carmakers, like Ford and General Motors, have also come ahead to make ventilators and respirators needed to help combat the spread of the coronavirus. General Motors has partnered with medical equipment maker Ventec to build ventilators at a GM plant in Kokomo, Indiana. Ford, on the other hand, is partnering with GE Healthcare and will expand the production of GE's ventilator design to support patients with respiratory failure or difficulty breathing caused by the pathogen. Ford also is evaluating a separate partnership with the British government to make additional ventilators. Furthermore, it will work with 3M as well to increase the manufacturing capacity of its air-purifying respirators.
Right now, the situation around the world is getting serious every day. With more and more cases of coronavirus being reported each day, there is a major shortage of medical equipment around the world. And automakers from across the world are coming in to help in whatever way possible. Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of Mahindra Group, also announced plans to make ventilators and covert the company's existing resorts into temporary case centres. We recently also reported how Renault workers in Spain have begun using 3D printers to manufacture medical visors for health workers from home.
Others like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Kia have announced plans to make face masks at their Asian factories. Chinese electric vehicle manufactures BYD, in fact, recently became the world's biggest face mask maker, producing over five million face masks a day amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
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