Auto Manufacturers Enter A New Field As They Are About To Start Producing Medical Equipment

The number of people infected by coronavirus is rising daily. Just a week ago, there were approximately 95,000 active cases worldwide. Now, the number is more than doubled, as there are at least 332,930 cases globally, according to WHO's report from March 23. At least 14,509 lives were lost, according to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering's Centers for Systems Science and Engineering.

Europe is still the epicenter of the virus and the most affected countries are Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. These countries make almost 50% of all active cases worldwide as they already suffered a jump of almost 140% compared to last week's results. According to WHO, about 85% of all new infections are coming from Europe and the U.S. As of March 23rd, WHO reported that the European region had 171,424 cases.

And, What About The U.S.?

Well, the growth rate is even worse. Compared to last week, the number of infected people in the U.S. increased by approximately 630%. Currently, the U.S. share in total active cases in the whole world is 14%. Just a week ago, it was 5%. COVID-19 is taking momentum in the USA. If this trend continues, we can expect 100,000 infected people by the end of this week.

The Society of Critical Care Medicine estimates that almost 1 million patients in the U.S. may need to be put on ventilators. On the other side, it is estimated that there are only 200,000 of these machines. Those machines are important because they inflate the patients' lungs and keep critical patients alive.

Something has to be done, and as soon as possible. Carmakers like Ford Motor Company F, General Motors Company GM, Tesla Inc TSLA, VOLKSWAGEN AG/ADR VWAGY and others offered to help. They are all trying to find the quickest way to produce more medical equipment, i.e. ventilators.

United States

President Donald Trump supported U.S. carmakers Ford, General Motors and Tesla to produce ventilators. General Motors announced a collaboration with Ventec Life Systems. Manufacturing know-how, logistics, plant space and purchasing power are all at disposal. The aim is to produce approximately 200,000 ventilators. It can be expected that the production will take place in GM's plant in Kokomo, Indiana. One of the main challenges is to find all the necessary parts needed for the assembly. Suppliers for most of them have been found, but 37 parts are still missing. Meanwhile, Ford announced it will work with 3M to produce a new kind of powered air-purifying respirator for healthcare workers.

Elon Musk, CEO of electric carmaker Tesla, also joined the fight against Coronavirus telling that he would direct his companies to produce ventilators if needed but he donated 1,000 ventilators said to be bought from China.

Europe

Volkswagen, the biggest car producer in the world, announced that the company is exploring how to use 3D printing to make hospital ventilators. They have more than 125 industrial 3D Printers and 25 years of experience with 3D printing. Medical equipment is a new field for VW, but they are already working intensively on this. As soon as they get blueprints, they are ready to start production. Prototype components had already been printed as its subsidiary, Skoda, was included in the project.

BMW also joined other carmakers in the fight against COVID-19 and offered to help with the production of ventilators using 3D printers.

Conclusion

To sum up, auto manufacturers have mostly closed their factories worldwide. Now they are ready to open some of them again. But not for producing cars, but for medical ventilators and other life-saving medical equipment that are more needed than ever.

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