Elon Musk Has Unveiled The Hyperloop Details

August 13th, 2013 by Nicholas Brown

Elon Musk has prepared the details of his Hyperloop transportation concept, which can carry cars and people at unprecedented speeds.

As is the case with all projects, it has its rough patches, and Elon Musk realized he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew. He recently admitted that he couldn’t devote time to developing the concept right now, which is an honourable admission. Even to publish the concept, Elon (and others) had to stay up all night on Sunday.

Pulled all nighter working on Hyperloop (as did others). Hopefully not too many mistakes. Will publish link at 1:30 PDT.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2013

Elon’s announcement shows that the hyperloop would not operate inside a vacuum, as previously thought. The intro to the 57-page hyperloop document was as follows:

The first several pages will attempt to describe the design in everyday language, keeping numbers to a minimum and avoiding formulas and jargon. I apologize in advance for my loose use of language and imperfect analogies.

The second section is for those with a technical background. There are no doubt errors of various kinds and superior optimizations for elements of the system. Feedback would be most welcome – please send to hyperloop@spacex.com or hyperloop@teslamotors.com. I would like to thank my excellent compadres at both companies for their help in putting this together.

Following that, Musk and team started by stating that he was disappointed by the California High Speed Rail project, citing that it is one of the most expensive and slowest high-speed rail networks there is, travelling at a speed of only 164 MPH (264 kph) between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Hyperloop illustration. Image Credit: SpaceX

(On a side note: Could the problem with US railways be that the government hires for-profit corporations to manage them instead of doing it themselves? That includes not only the actual cost of operating the railway, but the profit margin of the corporations as well, and the corporations may overcharge the government and get away with it.)

The hyperloop, which is partly based on an ET3 concept, would operate using two tubes so that cars can travel in both directions, according to Elon Musk and team’s report. Just go ahead and click on that link to check out the full announcement and concept.

Big/Revolutionary Ideas

Sometimes big problems require big solutions, and this applies especially to the transportation situation which encompasses congestion, excessive air pollution, excessive greenhouse gas emissions, and an inherently high risk of accidents. Transportation by personal cars is the worst in all of these categories. However, it provides the greatest freedom and has some convenience benefits, such as the ability to drive yourself anywhere.

If trains are built on the same basic concept as railways were literally more than 200 years ago, will they suddenly become more convenient than cars and take over? No, although I do have to give them credit, as their benefits still stand. However, there is always room for improvement, and making public transit better than personal cars would be the ultimate achievement to get everyone on board it.

My point is that if a designer can make public transportation more convenient than personal cars, that is a tremendously helpful achievement, as it will make everyone want to use it, even if it was more expensive. Public transportation would no longer be the pragmatic, “economy” alternative to personal cars, but the nicest.

Everyone knows that speed is well appreciated, especially since travel by air and ship are so slow. High-speed railways that can attain speeds in excess of 200 MPH have already been built in China. If you could hop on such a train and have it depart in only a few minutes, that would be a truly quick mode of transportation, overall.

We’ll see if anyone builds onto Elon’s hyperloop design and tries to develop it, or if Elon comes back to it in a few years, as he recently said he might.

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Tags: Elon Musk, ET3, High speed tube transport, high-speed trains, Hyperloop, railways, Train transit, Tube transport

About the Author

Nicholas Brown writes on CleanTechnica, Gas2, Kleef&Co, and Green Building Elements. He has a keen interest in physics-intensive topics such as electricity generation, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, energy storage, and geography. His website is: Kompulsa.com.

Tony

The Hyperloop is an exciting idea for fast distance travel, but similar to current public transportation options like California’s Silicon Valley light rail system or Caltrain commuter train system, it relies on the public to travel to and from a designated train stop. If one were to use our BiModal Glideway system you’d be able to travel from door to door without relying on changing trains, busses or leaving your car in a crowded commuter parking lot during the day where it could be vandalized. Visit our website for a short video description and more information about the BiModal Glideway and leave us your comments or questions about our system. We can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
globi

This is an old concept.

Swissmetro (same concept) is already over 20 years old:

http://www.swissmetro.ch/en
Jouni Valkonen

Even after all the details published and you are still confusing Hyperloop to ET3 vacuum train project. These ideas have nothing to do with each other, but they are based on wholy different approaches. Hyperloop is based on air cushion levitation where as ET3 vacuum tube is based on magnetic levitation at vacuum.
William Wilgus

There’s been lots of hype about this, but there’s no possibility of the ‘loop’ ever existing. Read the .PDF with a critical eye and you’ll agree.
Amber Archangel

Wow! He included cars in the capsules. That’s innovative. I
drive that corridor between San Francisco, California and Los Angeles,
California. Elon’s Hyperloop would be life-changing. I’d visit the Getty Museum
much more frequently. Thanks for the news
- William Wilgus
  
  I guess you never heard of Amtrac’s Auto-Train. It runs between Reston, VA and Sanford, FL (near Disneyworld.) Carrying passengers’ autos is not ‘innovative’ at all.
  - Ivor O’Connor
    
    I’ve actually used that service. Watching the snow fall out the train window knowing once I get to FL the crappy weather would be replaced with vacation weather. I drove back but it was a very nice experience having the car all packed up on the train with me. I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend an hour packing up the car for a 30 minute trip though!
    - Guest
      
      What a nice image, thanks. It would be
      a joy to have that service on the west coast. How are we so far behind the east
      coast? We have nothing like that. A friend is traveling the rails between San
      Diego, the central coast and northern Washington. There are many delays, it is
      not fast and there are no cars traveling with the passengers. Sometimes the
      food service doesn’t have enough food for everyone to have dinner on the train.
      (How is that even possible?) We on the west coast really need a fast rail
      service. Being able to travel and have our car at the destination is
      like a dream.
    - Amber Archangel
      
      What a nice image, thanks. It would be a joy to have that service on the west coast. How are we so far behind the east coast? We have nothing like that. A friend is traveling the rails between San Diego, the central coast and northern Washington. There are many delays, it is not fast and there are no cars traveling with the passengers. Sometimes the onboard food service doesn’t have enough food for everyone to have dinner on the train. (How is that even possible?) We on the west coast really need a fast rail service, being able to travel and have our car at the destination is like a dream.
    - William Wilgus
      
      I’ve taken it couple of times round trip. I enjoy traveling by train.
Ivor O’Connor

Nicholas, you say “On a side note: Could the problem with US railways be that the government hires for-profit corporations to manage them instead of doing it themselves? That includes not only the actual cost of operating the railway, but the profit margin of the corporations as well, and the corporations may overcharge the government and get away with it.”

That makes me wonder. Government does a horrible job. Look at NASA. Government with corporations does a horrible job. Look at the military industrial complex. Corporations by themselves do a horrible job. Look at our auto industries. I wonder because I just can’t identify the problem. I’d like to simplify and say because our government is totally corrupt it encourages bad behavior from our corporations. Our government is certainly not interested in the populace other than to secure them safely away in a matrix like state…
- William Wilgus
  
  America’s passenger rail service, AmTrac, is a quasi-government operation. All of the freight railroads are corporations.