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The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

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Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#111

Post by jejeyyy77 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #89
dv_dt wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this follows Elons pattern of being able to find areas where the fundamental technology has advanced and is available, but the integration and step up to a new level hasn't been invested in yet. I think the Boring company basically made more efficient custom built tunneling equipment.

Musk never learned that most of the cost of subways is the stations and supporting infrastructure, not digging the tunnel itself. Musk has not proposed any improvements to the expensive parts of tunneling.

Lol reading the comments in this sub show how clueless the general population is. Probably the same people that said Tesla was vaporware.

To answer your question: He’s not building subway tunnels. It’s tunnels for Tesla vehicles.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#112

Post by int_19h »

drcross wrote: post #109
mc3 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah OK, does anyone have the angle on that? Is there a new technology aspect here?

Along with the tunnelling speed improvements from what I'm gathering they are using model X chassis vehicles within the tunnels. The benefit of this is that you don't need rails, just line following sensors. There's no brake replacement because of regen etc. The main takeaway is that the carriage system will be able to be maintained by car mechanics and not locomotion engineers. What the stations will look like will…

But rails were invented for a reason - they're drastically more efficient. So doesn't this just trade lower upfront costs for much higher operational costs (in energy consumption per mile travelled)?

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#113

Post by nonanonymous »

jejeyyy77 wrote: post #111
gamblor956 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musk never learned that most of the cost of subways is the stations and supporting infrastructure, not digging the tunnel itself. Musk has not proposed any improvements to the expensive parts of tunneling.

Lol reading the comments in this sub show how clueless the general population is. Probably the same people that said Tesla was vaporware. To answer your question: He’s not building subway tunnels. It’s tunnels for Tesla vehicles.

That doesn't exactly improve the ROI.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#114

Post by ClumsyPilot »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #34
altacc wrote: post #15

Isn't this just describing building a small but fancy subway system? Honest question: what's the novel "wow" factor that I'm missing?

Novel is faster and cheaper (because faster and less ventilation cuz electric cars). I think it makes total sense. Rail is so much more complex when compared to an electric bus.

Rail moves a lot more people than a 10-line highway.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#115

Post by threeseed »

siquick wrote: post #93
ShorsHammer wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Sydney Metro tunnel is coming in at nearly double the initial budgeted cost. It's over $1B per km of tunnel. Australian infrastructure projects are hardly something to be proud of.

Have you seen any breakdown of why it costs that much? It seems like an unfathomable amount.

Because the tunnel is going underneath the Sydney harbour:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/under-wraps-sydney-s-fir...

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#116

Post by threeseed »

SECProto wrote: post #102
threeseed wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually Musk leased an existing Canadian boring machine: http://superexcavators.com/news/super-excavators-consult-mac... There is no evidence of any improvements or innovations.

And the Tesla Roadster was just a modified Lotus Elise. Buying an of-the-shelf product and reverse engineering it, before building ones' own, is a very valuable step.

But are they actually building their own ?

Haven't seen anything covered about what they've built or how it compares with anything else on the market.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#117

Post by clairity »

astrodust wrote: post #68
xeromal wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is to make it 10x cheaper and 14x faster. The boring company is more of a personal effort by Elon due to his hatred of LA traffic.

"Let's solve traffic by building more roads!" Elon has a lot to learn about induced demand.

induced demand is often (intentionally?) misunderstood as demand being literally insatiable (and by extension, "why bother?"), but really, we're just severly underserving the market, and there are very limited price signals we can rely on to understand the cost and value of a road foot-second (or meter-second).

people want more fast, affordable, on-demand, point-to-point private transportation. "induced demand" tells us we're woefully under-providing that demand. we're very far from the desired equilibrium point in nearly every metro area. elon seems to understand that better than a pithy quip might indicate.

along with mixed-use-as-default along transportation corridors, i would prefer more underground trains, dedicated busways, and small personal transport infrastructure (for electric bikes, scooters, etc.) in our cities (particularly in LA), but every effort, including the boring company's, that addresses that overwhelming demand helps.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#118

Post by dv_dt »

threeseed wrote: post #116
SECProto wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the Tesla Roadster was just a modified Lotus Elise. Buying an of-the-shelf product and reverse engineering it, before building ones' own, is a very valuable step.

But are they actually building their own ? Haven't seen anything covered about what they've built or how it compares with anything else on the market.

With the Tesla EV, you have to market to the public how the car is better because you're selling it to the end customer. With the Boring company, you don't have to prove to anyone but yourself, or the governments or the project investors that your bid is good.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#119

Post by CamperBob2 »

astrodust wrote: post #68
xeromal wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is to make it 10x cheaper and 14x faster. The boring company is more of a personal effort by Elon due to his hatred of LA traffic.

"Let's solve traffic by building more roads!" Elon has a lot to learn about induced demand.

Induced demand = the product is actually being used. The hoary old cliché that says, "Building roads just increases congestion," is nothing more than an exercise in measuring the wrong thing.

Market demand, induced and otherwise, is a good thing, if the externalities are also addressed. That's basically Musk's whole business model.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#120

Post by sansnomme »

siquick wrote: post #93
ShorsHammer wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Sydney Metro tunnel is coming in at nearly double the initial budgeted cost. It's over $1B per km of tunnel. Australian infrastructure projects are hardly something to be proud of.

Have you seen any breakdown of why it costs that much? It seems like an unfathomable amount.

All sorts of reasons, but corruption (along-side organized crime) is a big issue in the construction industry. Imagine Oracle-style of service and business approach coupled with an npm-deep level of dependencies/middlemen whose palms need greasing and to have their cut of the project. Then on the other side you are boxed in by physics, thousands of regulations, zoning laws, complaints, city council, government bureaucracy.
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