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The Hyperloop: BUSTED

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ogden:

--- Quote from: mtdoc on January 20, 2018, 12:16:08 am ---
--- Quote from: ogden on January 20, 2018, 12:08:37 am ---I selectively picked only "I believe it’s just a handfull of small companies and some engineering student teams"

--- End quote ---

Exactly.

--- End quote ---

Well, sorry then :) I can tell it now that I agree to you regarding that (government subsidies) part and obviously had nothing to add.

mtdoc:

--- Quote from: ogden on January 20, 2018, 12:21:58 am ---
--- Quote from: mtdoc on January 20, 2018, 12:16:08 am ---
--- Quote from: ogden on January 20, 2018, 12:08:37 am ---I selectively picked only "I believe it’s just a handfull of small companies and some engineering student teams"

--- End quote ---

Exactly.

--- End quote ---

Well, sorry then :) I can tell it now that I agree to you regarding that (government subsidies) part and obviously had nothing to add.

--- End quote ---

Even if it was not relevant to my point, I’m glad you brought the info regarding Richard Branson’s investment into the general hyperloop discussion. He may loose his money, but he’s no fool and has a good track record.

amspire:

--- Quote from: mtdoc on January 20, 2018, 12:03:45 am ---
--- Quote from: EEVblog on January 19, 2018, 11:13:54 pm ---That money will never see any return on investment, it will just vanish.

--- End quote ---

Perhaps - that is one opinion. Of course Branson losing his money if it occurs, does not mean the hyperloop fails and certainly doesn’t mean it is not an achievable engineering challenge.

--- End quote ---
The trouble is that early investors in overhyped projects can make a lot of money and prestige. You can also look like visionary and a hero. You can be directly in touch with world leaders. A project like the Hyperloop can potentially attract billions of dollars, and that money has to go somewhere.

For example, there is Virgin Galactic trying to make vehicles that can fly into space. Hyperloop requires the development of safe passenger craft that can work in a vacuum. Can some of the development money cross between the groups, or can technology that Virgin Galactic needs be developed with Hyperloop money?

The Hyperloop would be a fantastic laboratory for exploring how to make space craft safer. Developing vacuum emergency equipment.

The attraction of Hyperloop is that the raw concept is fine - of course it would be possible to send a vehicle down a vacuum tube at high speeds and with very low friction. Hyperloop say they have now "proved" it, but the concept never needed $1 spent to be proved.

If you look at some other areas of technology like the development of the transistor, IC's, Quantum Computing, WiFi, the Internet, medical imaging, etc. These are all massive technological leaps forward that are not based on anything obvious. Someone has to invent new technology that never existed before.

ogden:

--- Quote from: mtdoc on January 20, 2018, 12:29:03 am ---I’m glad you brought the info regarding Richard Branson’s investment into the general hyperloop discussion. He may loose his money, but he’s no fool and has a good track record.

--- End quote ---

The term is: risk investment. He definitely knows what he is doing, why he did not invest in uBeam but in Hyperloop :)

mtdoc:

--- Quote from: nctnico on January 19, 2018, 11:50:53 pm ---Spin-off is the keyword you are missing here. I did some projects in the past which didn't pan out themselves but the knowledge & IP gained turned out to be very profitable. And big corporations have enough money to add patents into the mix. You can't predict the future but sitting on your thumbs is not going to be profitable for sure.

--- End quote ---

Very good point. Even if the hyperloop is never realized as a large scale public transport project (as I suspect will be the case due to financial and political but not technical reasons), one or more of the companies involved may still be successful. One could argue that the education and inspiration it has contributed to engineering students has already made it a success.

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