While Malaysia is celebrating the launch of the new MRT line from Sungai Buloh to Kajang, at the other end of the world, Hyperloop One, a company aiming to transform and reinvent fast transport has completed the second phase of their testing. For those of you who may not necessarily know what Hyperloop One or Hyperloop Transportation Technologies does, it all started with a white paper shared by Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla) which states that pods can be shot through vacuum pressured tubes from one point to another at breakneck speeds. Basically, speeds faster than sound.
Fast forward a couple of rounds of Series A and Series B investments, Hyperloop One, one of the first few companies working on hyperloop technology has finally completed their test by shooting a pod through a 500-metre DevLoop in the Nevada desert. The tube was depressurized down to what is equivalent to being 200,000 feet above sea level. This allowed the pod to accelerate for 300 meters above the track using magnetic levitation before braking and coming to a stop.
The pod managed to reach speeds of 310km per hour. Still, a far cry of the hypothesised 1000km per hour speeds it can potentially reach but it shows progress.
“This is the beginning, and the dawn of a new era of transportation,” said Shervin Pishevar, Executive Chairman and Co-founder of Hyperloop One. “We’ve reached historic speeds of 310 km an hour, and we’re excited to finally show the world the XP-1 going into the Hyperloop One tube. When you hear the sound of the Hyperloop One, you hear the sound of the future.”
All components of the system were successfully tested, including the highly efficient electric motor, advanced controls and power electronics, custom magnetic levitation and guidance, pod suspension and vacuum system.
“We’ve proven that our technology works, and we’re now ready to enter into discussions with partners, customers and governments around the world about the full commercialization of our Hyperloop technology,” said Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd. “We’re excited about the prospects and the reception we’ve received from governments around the world to help solve their mass transportation and infrastructure challenges.”
“Our team of engineers continues to make history at DevLoop. Only a handful of teams would have attempted something so audacious while far less could have achieved it,” said Josh Giegel, President of Engineering and Co-founder of Hyperloop One. “Through tireless preparation, dedication and hard work, we successfully completed Phase 1, proving that Hyperloop One technology works and that Hyperloop is real. Phase 2 was far more difficult as we built upon everything we learned from our initial test and accomplished faster speeds at a farther distance. We’re now one step closer to deploying Hyperloop around the world.”
As testing seems to show good progress, the company’s founders, Shervin Pishevar and Josh Giegel have been selling the ideas of Hyperloop to several countries such as Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates, several cities in the US and much more. Feasibility studies are currently underway for some of these countries as they build their individual business cases to justify a Hyperloop.
Hyperloop One aims to complete 3 production ready loops by 2021.
[Source: Hyperloop One & The Verge]
