He’s brought us PayPal, and the Tesla Model S electric car. He wants to take astronauts to the International Space Station, and humanity to Mars. And, now, Elon Musk wants to get people “from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes.”
The trip currently takes an hour by plane (not to mention the buffer on either side as you traverse the airports) or six hours by car. But Musk’s new plan, the Hyperloop, would never crash, ignores the weather outside, and would travel twice as fast as a plane.
A concept rendering for Aeromovel, similar to Musk’s Hyperloop
“This system I have in mind, how would you like something that can never crash, is immune to weather, it goes 3 or 4 times faster than the bullet train… it goes an average speed of twice what an aircraft would do,” Musk asks. “You would go from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes. It would cost you much less than an air ticket than any other mode of transport.
“I think we could actually make it self-powering if you put solar panels on it, you generate more power than you would consume in the system. There’s a way to store the power so it would run 24/7 without using batteries. Yes, this is possible, absolutely.”
Musk hasn’t given us many details on what his Hyperloop would look like, though he’s made it known that he’ll provide details to ”anyone who can make a credible case that they can do it.” He also cited Aeromovel as a similar design, suggesting that the Hyperloop could take advantage of a similar pneumatic transportation guideway.
Needless to say, there are many residents in LA and San Francisco who would greatly appreciate a safe, efficient, and cheaper method of getting from a to b.
Source: The Atlantic
I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, a liberal left-winger, and believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I work as Associate Editor for the Important Media Network and write for CleanTechnica and Planetsave. I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), Amazing Stories, the Stabley Times and Medium. I love words with a passion, both creating them and reading them.
