Home Top

Hyperloop test track is coming to California - and Elon Musk's revolutionary mode of transport could be FREE at off-peak times

Hyperloop could transport people from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes
It was unveiled by SpaceX and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk in 2013
Now Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is building the first track
And it said the finished line could be free for passengers at certain times

Published: 05:31 EST, 29 May 2015 | Updated: 11:36 EST, 30 May 2015

View
comments

The first test track for Elon Musk’s revolutionary $16 billion (£10 billion) Hyperloop transportation system is to be built in California as soon as next year.

The Hyperloop is a proposal to transport people in a vacuum tube at close to the speed of sound, making the journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco just 30 minutes.

And in a talk yesterday, the boss of a company building a test track revealed that, during off-peak times, Hyperloop could be free for passengers.

Scroll down for video

The $16bn Hyperloop system (illustrated) could transport people from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes. It was unveiled by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2013. Now Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is building the first track and said that the finished line could be free for passengers

The planned five-mile (8km) track will be located in Quay Valley, California, approximately half way between LA and San Francisco.

It will be built on 5,000 acres of land that has recently been acquired near Interstate 5.

WHAT IS THE HYPERLOOP?

The Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at 745mph (1,200km/h) between distant locations.

It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane.

It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum.

The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes.

Passengers would sit in either individual or group pods, which would then be accelerated with magnets.

Capsules carrying six to eight people would depart every 30 seconds, with tickets costing around $20 (£13) each way.

The cost of building a line from LA to San Francisco has been estimated at $16 billion (£10 billion) - although critics say it would be nearer $100 billion (£65 billion).

California is currently in the process of considering building a high-speed rail system at a cost of about $68 billion (£44 billion).

Run by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), which is not affiliated with Mr Musk or his companies, the $100m (£65 million) track will aim to prove the technology is successful.

HTT is a research company using crowd collaboration to bring Musk’s vision to life.

Mr Musk, who revealed the Hyperloop project in 2013, has said previously that he does not necessarily want to be involved in developing what he calls the ‘fifth mode of transport’.

Instead, he made the Hyperloop open source and invited people to ‘find ways to improve it’ - although earlier this year he did say he would build his own test track in Texas.

But the chief executive of HTT, German-born American entrepreneur Dirk Ahlborn, yesterday revealed how his company had already bought land to build a test track before Mr Musk.

In a wide-ranging talk at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna, Mr Ahlborn revealed some of the plans for the Hyperloop project.

One possibility is that riding on Hyperloop during off-peak times might be free, with people only paying for a ticket - estimated at $20 (£13) - during commuting times.

‘We want to make it something you use every single day many times,’ Mr Ahlborn said, according to Wired.

The planned five-mile (8km) track will be located in Quay Valley, California (shown) approximately half way between LA and San Francisco

The Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at 745mph (1,200km/h) between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013

Built by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, which is not affiliated with Mr Musk or his companies, a $100m (£65 million) track (shown) will aim to prove the technology is successful

How the company would make money though, is not clear.

It might be that, as Hyperloop will be solar powered but will not require all the energy it produces, some of this could be sold on.

‘I really, strongly believe that if we create a hyperloop network and it's free - in the off-peak times at least, in peak times we would charge a little bit - but we make money in other ways, that will really change how people live,’ Mr Ahlborn added.

He also heavily criticised the rail industry and upcoming developments, such as the UK’s upcoming HS2.

‘The rail industry is a dinosaur industry. Nothing really has happened for the last 100 years,’ he said.

Digital demonstration of Billionaire Elon Musk's 'Hyperloop'

The Hyperloop is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. The capsules could either carry a single person at a time, or lots as shown in this illustration

The cost of building a line from LA to San Francisco has been estimated at $16 billion (£10 billion) - although critics say it would be nearer $100 billion (£65 billion). California is currently in the process of considering building a high-speed rail system at a cost of about $68 billion (£44 billion)

It has been envisioned that Hyperloop could eventually connect many major cities. Shown is a map of how it might one day revolutionise long distance travel in the US

But he did add that Hyperloop would not just be limited to the West Coast of the US. The Middle East and Asia were also on the list, followed by Europe.

HTT now has more than 350 professionals from 21 nations on board, working for free, and more than 400 investors willing to hand over money.

So far, $4.75 million (£3.1 million) has been promised, some way short of the $100 million (£65 million) needed for this test track - and far short of the $16 billion (£10 billion) that a track from LA to San Francisco is thought to cost.

Mr Ahlborn, though, is confident the project can be successful - and drastically change the way we look at long distances.

Perhaps in the future, travelling from London to Paris for dinner and back again in the same evening will be something that is as common as using the Underground.