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Yes, I caught that, too; he's not shy about making the tie-in. :biggrin:
The overall concept is brilliant. Partially evacuating the tube, making the tube substantially larger in diameter than the vehicle, and using an onboard compressor to move air from the front of the capsule to the back...very ingenious. As an engineer, my mind goes immediately to those devilish details: you know, things like high-speed switching at the proposed branch points; design of air locks and stations; security of the infrastructure as well as TSA-style vetting of passengers; plus all the myriad of failure modes and emergency cases that have to be considered and dealt with. I hope somebody steps up to the challenge and makes it all work.
More interesting than a train. Seems crazy to spend billions of dollars and a decade building a system based on a hyped up design from the 1800's. Hats off for Elon and his team putting this out there. I'm sure a lot of effort went into this. However, I wonder about the cost elements? I'm sure that two rail lines and a level rail bed might sound less expensive than two air tight steel tubes, if not for the reality of land rights and an irregular landscape. I'm not convinced that the hyperloop idea gets around all of those. Seems to me that the one hour required for Southwest Airlines is a reasonable amount of time to travel from LA to SF. The killer is the wasted time getting to the airport, parking, security screening, waiting for luggage, etc. This part takes an additional two hours if not more. The Hyperloop station might have the same issues and if you add two hours to the trip then where is the advantage? I think Elon's idea for a small vertical take off jet might solve many of the logistical issues of airports, but then again maybe not. How about just speeding up the Tesla S, adding an autopilot and clearing the road. Traveling at 200 miles and hour is possible in a car and potentially safe on a clear and mostly straight road. Add autopilot features and then you preserve all flexibility and avoid all the airport/station issues. A 2 to 3 hour drive easily beats a 3 hour plane trip (one hour flight plus two hours in logistics).
I wouldn't bounce from side to side. The circle of the tube would cause it to slide up the side and then back down again. As far as a fan failing the idea is that the following cars would also do an emergency brake as well. Obviously we all know "can't crash" isn't really true, but "substantially less likely to crash than a train or airplane" is good enough (not that I'm saying it is, but it looks good).
If the loop is intended to link city pairs together as airplanes do, then you might not use high-speed switching at all. You'd take the SF-LA loop, then switch to another loop to go to San Diego, just like you switch planes today. If there's a pod going from SF to SD, you could conceptually add the ability to move the pod from one tube to another and have the pod switch to another loop instead of having the pax switch from pod to pod... but that would be low-speed switching and done at a station.
I can also imagine high-speed switching being done with large-radius curves at the Y-point and using magnets to ensure that the pod "clings" to either the left or right wall, but that's an additional and fairly interesting challenge, and one not without substantial risks in case of component failure.
Have you read the 57 page report? If you did you would be as impressed as I am...can someone say "technogasm"?
http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/12/news/economy/hyperloop-elon-musk/index.html
"Musk, a co-founder of PayPal and the man behind commercial space transport firm Space-X and electric car maker Tesla, said up to 1,000 employees from both Tesla and Space X worked to come up with the idea, which is basically an elevated tube which moves travel pods at nearly the speed of sound."
Wow, mind-blowing if true.
Rodolfo, I see your point and Kevin's. I'm not rushing to add shares, but I think this is the sort of day that will get people past comparing Elon to Steve Jobs or Henry Ford, and appreciate his gifts for what they are (which impacts how Tesla is perceived).
The advantage is that it is faster, and potentially far cheaper.
The man is a danger to every established industry out there.
Comparing to Steve Jobs is insane, because I just don't see Jobs as that transformative on a world historical basis.
I think I'd rather see a fleet of available cars on the other end instead of bothering to move an entire car.Especially when you transport your car long distances and then drive out of the station.
I think I'd rather see a fleet of available cars on the other end instead of bothering to move an entire car.
But you are transferring the cost to the passengers who now need to rent the car.Sure, the concept of moving your car with you is better, I think the reality of the engineering makes more sense to have cars waiting at the other end if you need one. Much cheaper build.
The savings in the build and in operating energy might more than subsidize the cost.But you are transferring the cost to the passengers who now need to rent the car.
Or you recover the extra cost by charging more to transport cars.The savings in the build and in operating energy might more than subsidize the cost.
One other thought, Elon originally said it was open-source but has now changed his mind. My guess is that some really smart people at venture capital firms, tech law firms and consultants told him that, to get it done, he'd need to control it and they will raise the money, in about one day. He seems to have an almost unlimited capacity for work and adding a third company to his CEO list is feasible.
This works very well with Eurotunnel (UK to France) and there are various places, esp. Switzerland where you load your car onto a train to traverse a mountain range via tunnel. One is at Andermatt, north end of Gottard tunnel.I think transporting your actual car is a far more valuable concept, you don't need to rent etc. this concept is similar to the Amtrack "Auto Train", except way more convenient.. The auto train loads cars in the morning outside Washington DC and heads south to Florida, the issue is, it only takes you about 500 miles, and it's all day, and it drops you off at the beginning of Florida, which is a very long state, most are going to Ft Lauderdale/Miami, that's still another 500 mile drive IN Florida to get to.. In short, the auto train is a failure, for most people. Elon's concept would be much better.
Or you recover the extra cost by charging more to transport cars.
I understand your "efficient" transportation part - but transporting cars is just such an appealing idea, that might make the whole project more feasible.