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by thomaskcr 2259 days ago
Here's the transcript of the briefing today timestamped to what I said: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/HPqI45S2jtcETVF...

Talking about Buffalo:

> Aide: We have been talking to Tesla. They’re actually not talking about making the entire ventilator; they’re talking about making one part of the ventilator. They’re trying to ramp up to get up and running as soon as possible, but nothing’s materialized yet.

> Press Corps: (36:27) > So it hasn’t started at that plant?

> Aide: (36:28) > Correct.

Further:

> Cuomo: The problem with ventilator construction is the supply chain. Nobody can make you a ventilator right now in two weeks. That's General Motors. That's Ford. That's Elon Musk. I don't care how big and how powerful, you can't make ventilators that fast because there are parts that have to come from other countries. And their timeframe frankly doesn't work for our immediate apex because whether we're talking two days or 10 days, you're not going to make ventilators at that time.

Now to be fair, Tesla using their own parts does help with the issue brought up here. But also, you now have a car company making design decisions in a less than 2 week timeframe, coding their own interface, etc. By the time they roll off they could have just gotten parts that have been designed by people who already made the mistakes they will make.

2 comments

> could have just gotten parts

You're trivializing what it takes to actually build integrated hardware. Designing their own systems may be the best choice, considering they have the talent, domain expertise, existing components and access to Medtronic's teams, etc.

This is a fluid situation and Tesla is stepping up.

No, this is another one of Musk's submarines with the added bonus that he's been running around Twitter trying to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak:

https://jalopnik.com/elon-musk-has-played-an-extremely-dange...

He's avoided calling anyone a paedophile this time around so that's something.

This. I’m surprised 3D printing hasn’t been employed more aggressively to cut down the complexity of production & sourcing. I’d imagine MM3D being used to create electro active polymer pumps acting in series to create the displacements (~.5L), and parts like pressure sensors designed in a simple albeit more mechanical fashion.

Props to Elon tho for taking on the task!