Hyperloop, the transport system of the future
It all started in 2013, Elon Musk made a summary of the project describing it as “it’s a mix of a Concorde, a rail gun and board hockey game.” The idea of Hyperloop was actually a means of transport with capsules that travel inside a tube and travel long distances in a short time.
The project was born out of Musk’s discontent with the high-speed rail being built in California, “The only option for super-fast transportation is to build a tube on or under the ground that contains a special environment,” Musk said. He promised an affordable alternative – a cost of $6000 for a journey between San Francisco and Los Angeles – and fast, as with Hyperloop the journey would go from six hours by car to just 35 minutes.
The result is Hyperloop, a capsule-based transport system – 1.35 meters wide, 15 meters long and 1.1 meters high – which levitate inside tunnels at low pressure, with an air compressor at the front to stop possible consequences of speed as the effect of current compression. The Hyperloop would reach 480, 890 or 1220 kilometers, and for this reason its capsules would have integrated in-line electric motors.
In a paper published in August 2013, Musk wrote that “Authors encourage all community members to contribute to the Hyperloop design process.” From there, Hyperloop-related contests have been generated, as the project was in such a way that feedback was welcome, lending itself to a multitude of reviews.
So engineers, students and companies made their proposals. In 2016 one of the competitions was held, where 124 prototype capsules were presented. The MIT team was the first place and 22 proposals were selected to be tested at the Hyperloop facility. This year was the Competition Weekend I, whose winners were the Dutch team of delf University, the Munich Technique and, again, the MIT team. There will soon be another competition: Hyperloop Pod Competition, which will seek to achieve maximum speed.
Getting closer and closer thanks to Hyperloop One
It should be borne in mind that the development of the project is being carried out by three companies: Hyperloop One, co-founded by Josh Giegel and Shervin Pishevar, Hyperloop Transportation Technology, co-founded by Dirk Ahlborn and Bibop G. Gresta, and Transpod, co-founded by Sebastien Gendron and Ryan Janzen and the newest, Transpod.
Among them, Hyperloop One is the biggest player. Its prototype, the XP-1, last May completed the first full system test, traveling the capsule 4.5 times faster and reaching speeds 2.7 times faster and 3.5 times more power. And, on July 29, the prototype reached a record speed of 192 mph through a 500-meter-long tube in the Nevada desert, using magnetic levitation.
The past few months, the founders of Hyperloop One have been traveling around the world, mainly outside the United States. Despite running the test track in Nebada, Hyperloop One centres are located in the United Arab Emirates, Finland and Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Moscow and the United Kingdom.
In fact, its plans include the following routes through the European Union:
- Corsica – Sardinia: 451 km
- Estonia – Finland: 90 km
- Germany: 1,991 km
- Poland: 415 km
- Spain – Morocco: 629 km
- Holland: 428 km
- United Kingdom: North-South connector: 666 km
- United Kingdom: North Arch: 545km
- United Kingdom – Scotland – Wales: 1,060 km
Pishevar explained that “Hyperloop is already in operation. Now, for commercialization, we have started talks with governments around the world.”
Still, some of the biggest challenges posed by this entirely new technology is that it must be built from scratch without any of the pass-through duty concessions, land acquisitions or regulatory approvals than other modes of transport, such as currently enjoy. Engineer Josh Geigel says Hyperloop One is trying to overcome challenges such as getting a list of public agencies and players, building the stations, as well as researching how to make the service cheaper.
The next step Hyperloop One hopes to take is to increase the speed to the maximum of 250 mph in the current length of 1620 feet of track. As well, increase safety for passengers, trying to load the hyperloop without breaking the empty state, as well as, that function the systems of protection against earthquakes.
“We’re actually starting to install the concept of a lock, so we’ll have a form of entry and exit to load the capsule, which will then inform the design of the station and other parts of the system in general,” said Lloyd, CEO of Hyperloop One. “The next big step is the lock, and the development of some of the main technologies.”
The following technical tests will be directed to the add extension to the test track. According to the Hyperlood One team, it would take 2000 more meters of track so that it is able to reach a theoretical maximum speed of 700 mph.
“The mathematics of acceleration has followed exactly our predicted patterns,” Lloyd added.
In October last year, Hyperloop One announced a $50 million investment round to use that funding to conduct a full system test, and it has. Although it does not give details about current and future funding efforts, but made clear its confidence in CFO Brent Callinicos’ ability to do the same as it did in its previous CFO position at Uber during its growth phase.
Three or four years to go until the dates that companies have set a stop to see commercial Hyperloops circulating, we will remain attentive to the advances and especially seeing if it ends up being a “real reality”. Its big challenge is to maintain its goal of having three Hyperloops active in 2021.
Hyperloop could be available in 2020 in United Arab Emirates
One of Hyperloop One’s biggest projects is tubular transportation connecting Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The means of transport, which will be oriented in a high purchasing power public, will cover almost 160 kilometers in 12 minutes.
In August last year, they invited the company to participate in the “Dubai Future Accelerator Programme”, which was led by the Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and as early as November, Hyperloop One announced the agreement with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority to evaluate the Hyperloop project in the United Arab Emirates.
Although there is no fixed date, Hyperloop One has set out to have it completed by 2020.
“Our company received unprecedented access to expert resources in an innovative environment to develop our idea for the Hyperloop system in the United Arab Emirates,” Lloyd said earlier this year.
Summit “Hyperloop One Vision for India”
Hyperloop One convened an innovation summit in New Delhi, “Hyperloop One Vision For India”, to discuss how Hyperloop could be integrated into a country’s transportation network such as India.
More than 2,600 participants from 90 countries attended and different teams proposed different transport routes for Hyperloop, including:
- Aecom. From Bangalore to Chennai: 334 km in 20 minutes.
- LUX Hyperloop Network. From Bangalore to Thiruvananthapuram: 736 km in 41 minutes. It connects two main ports in southern India with population centers of Coimbatore and Kochi.
- Dinclix GroundWorks. From New Delhi to Mumbai, via Jaiper and Indore: 1,317 kilometers in 55 minutes. It connects two megacities and creates maritime access for landlocked intermediate cities inland.
- Hyperloop India. From Bombai to Chennai via Bangalore: 1,102 kilometers. 50 minutes. Gradual development for the transport of goods and passengers. Increases capacity at the ports of Mumbai and Chennai.
- Infi-Alpha. From Bangalore to Chennai: 334 km in 20 minutes. It connects to the main airports.
Musk is going to start investing in the Hyperloop
Rumors that have been spreading in recent months that Musk was going to start investing in his original “Hyperloop” idea have been confirmed. They started with the founding of their new company aimed at excavating tunnels to solve traffic problems, but which is perfectly compatible with Hyperloop tunnels.
Finally, on July 20, Musk said he had received verbal approval from authorities to explore the idea of building a Hyperloop line between Washington DC and New York with stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
“At The Boring Company, we plan to build fast, low-cost tunnels that host new high-speed transportation systems,” a company spokesman wrote in a statement. “Most will be standard pressurized tunnels with electric skates ranging from more than 125 mph. For long-distance routes on straight lines, such as from NY to DC, it makes sense to use pressurized pods in a depressurized tunnel to allow speeds of up to approximately 600+ Mph (also known as Hyperloop). “
This can be a concern for companies that have invested large amounts of money and time in the development of the Hyperloop, due to the large capital that Musk moves, being able to attract more investment and develop more rapidly such technology .
In his day, Musk already warned that if the construction of his new transport system did not come true quickly enough he could consider carrying it out himself. “While we are encouraged by others making some progress, we would like to accelerate the development of this technology as quickly as possible,” continued the Boring Company spokesman.
This can translate into bad news for those companies that dreamed of being the first to build the Hyperloop. However, many of the Hyperloop companies don’t seem to be too worried. Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies believes that the more people participate, the more capital will flow and the more progress will all progress.
“Because these companies are talking about something that’s disturbing enough, their main concern is execution and finding the places where you can run the experiment to prove the technology and perfect it,” said William Sahlman, who teaches business management at Harvard Business School. “In that sense, having a new competitor at scale has a marginal impact on the likelihood of success.”
