Elon Musk's Newest Idea: Hyperloop

[xnvy]

Click me for the story!

Musk is full of ideas and this one seems pretty cool. I'm skeptical of travelling 644 kms in 30 minutes but if anyone could do it, Musk is the guy. Basically it's a capsule shooting through a tube at speed but at over 1,000 km/h. The method to this would be a fan that actively sucks the air from in front of the capsule and expels it behind the capsule but also rides it as part of an air cushion to reduce friction. Pretty cool idea IMO.

Thoughts on this?

PDF file released by Tesla providing some more detail.

[TYMSMNY]

Pretty neat building upon different ideas and putting them into something that he's obviously passionate about. Wonder when and if it'll get built.



» Click image for larger version

[Toma]

This is something that MUST happen. Or something like it. It is SO wasteful to commute to Edmonton and or Red Deer etc, and do so driving.

Imagine getting there in 15 minutes safely. Next to a Transporter, this is the best solution. Link all the Major cities in North America.

I LOVE the tube idea. Seems so much safer than rail, high speed rail, mag lev etc.

Would LOVE to see this.

Tesla stock might soar some more

[spikerS]

Why bother with this?

A simpler and easier design would be to create a near vacuum tube, and use a mag-lev system. could make that go damn near as fast as you could fathom.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by spikers
Why bother with this?

A simpler and easier design would be to create a near vacuum tube, and use a mag-lev system. could make that go damn near as fast as you could fathom.

Price. They would be cheaper than vacuum tube. And if the calculation to be trusted, cost of electricity is covered by solar panels.

But there are 2 major flaws:

1) Not sure how everyone will feel laying down in the enclosed tube with no windows.

2) How can you ensure nobody will be shitting or pissing in that 35mins trip from LA to San Fran? And if someone did shart, you are stuck with nowhere to go.

So i think this only works if everyone get their own enclosed compartment.

[Toma]

Originally posted by spikers
Why bother with this?

A simpler and easier design would be to create a near vacuum tube, and use a mag-lev system. could make that go damn near as fast as you could fathom.

Who knows. Tesla has the resources, I'm sure they looked at a lot of options. Perhaps Vacuum sealing a 600 mile tune is a challenge, perhaps mag lev takes more energy?

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Toma


Who knows. Tesla has the resources, I'm sure they looked at a lot of options. Perhaps Vacuum sealing a 600 mile tune is a challenge, perhaps mag lev takes more energy?

actually, vacuum sealing the tube and such isn't that big of a deal. IIRC, most of these super fast "tube" trains, is the safety aspect, as in, what if a car breaks down.

But the energy required for mag lev would be far less in a near zero atmosphere than a fan and duct system because in a vacuum, there is no wind resistance to overcome, so aerodynamics becomes a non factor.

either way, I think it is a cool idea.

[supe]

What I can't believe is the proposed cost of this thing, how can it possibly be so cheap. Didn't the west leg of our LRT cost about a quarter of this? And if you really can take a vehicle on this its a definite win.

Elon once again lives up to his nick the rocket man, dreams big, hopefully he delivers on this one.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by supe
What I can't believe is the proposed cost of this thing, how can it possibly be so cheap. Didn't the west leg of our LRT cost about a quarter of this? And if you really can take a vehicle on this its a definite win.

Elon once again lives up to his nick the rocket man, dreams big, hopefully he delivers on this one.

I don't think the cost has been proven yet. And you do see he left a lot of variables out or skip on reporting them.

The number sounds good because he wants his system to be picked for high speed train.

If this leg works, I'm pretty sure LA to Vegas is next. If people in San Fran can go to Vegas in less than 2 hrs, Reno is going to go bankrupt.

[Toma]

Originally posted by spikers


actually, vacuum sealing the tube and such isn't that big of a deal. IIRC, most of these super fast "tube" trains, is the safety aspect, as in, what if a car breaks down.

But the energy required for mag lev would be far less in a near zero atmosphere than a fan and duct system because in a vacuum, there is no wind resistance to overcome, so aerodynamics becomes a non factor.

either way, I think it is a cool idea.

Polish up the resume man, sounds like Tesla needs your expertise.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Toma


Polish up the resume man, sounds like Tesla needs your expertise.

Fuck, if only.

it only stands to reason, just like a vehicle, plane or watercraft, it is the medium they travel in that becomes the biggest limiting factor of the speed they can achieve.

If you can remove that, then your attainable speeds become so much higher.

A vacuum is the perfect medium for this. There would be no outside limiting force to counter the energy input for propulsion. Is mag lev the best form of propulsion in this situation? I think so.

While this hyperloop could attain such a speed, why stop there?

[xnvy]

From the third page of the PDF.

"Another extreme is the approach, advocated by Rand and ET3, of drawing a hard or near hard vacuum in the tube and then using an electromagnetic
suspension. The problem with this approach is that it is incredibly hard to maintain a near vacuum in a room, let alone 700 miles (round trip) of large tube with dozens of station gateways and thousands of pods entering and exiting every day. All it takes is one leaky seal or a small crack somewhere in the hundreds of miles of tube and the whole system stops working."

Emphasis mine.

[finboy]

Will be interesting to see what happens if there is an earthquake during transport, but I am sure they will think of it. Calgary to northern alberta or calgary to vancouver would be soooo much nicer with this

[DeleriousZ]

Car rental companies could get behind this too, offering local transport options right near the tube stations.

also, for the being stuck in a tube thing, this would be a great place for the flexible oled screen applications, mimicking windows that simulate passing scenery as you travel.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[RY213]

Originally posted by spikers
Why bother with this?

A simpler and easier design would be to create a near vacuum tube, and use a mag-lev system. could make that go damn near as fast as you could fathom.

Make it then genius! Elon Musk is a lot more intelligent than Spikers, I'm sure he's pondered different ways of making this possible.

[revelations]

Neat idea, but the major failing point is the cost of the right of ways, infrastructure (buried???) and untried technology which no-one will jump at - yet.

In 100 years, sure.

[themack89]

I still think PayPal was his greatest invention.

[dirtsniffer]

pretty sure I heard a quote stating that Musk regretted mentioning this and he has no intentions of pursuing the technology. Said he would rather focus on tesla and spaceX

The critics of California’s high-speed rail may be dismayed to learn that Musk does not plan to commercialize the Hyperloop technology for the time being. He’s posting the plans and asking for feedback and contemplating building a prototype. “I’m just putting this out there as an open source design,” he says. “There are sure to be suggestions out there for making this better, correcting any mistakes, and refining the design.” Musk maintains that he has too much on his plate to deal with bringing the Hyperloop to fruition. “I wish I had not mentioned it,” he says. “I still have to run SpaceX and Tesla, and it’s fucking hard.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...e-hyperloop#p2


edit.
oh this is in the article OP used..

[msommers]

All I can think of