41–50 of 116 posts
If it actually had a test track, then most of the discussion in these comments could be obviated.
Sigh "The 5-mile test track is estimated to cost about $100 million, which Hyperloop Transportation Technologies hopes to pay for with its initial public offering (IPO) later this year, according to Navigant's blog." Run away, run far far away. They might as well do a kickstarter. Seriously, what sort of "business" is a 5 mile test track? Lets say you charged $25 for a "5 minute ride on the hyperloop!" and you got 8…
The purpose would be to learn more about the inevitable practical problems that come up between a system concept that pencils out to be more efficient and a real operating system. I think we stand on the shoulders of giants giving an incredible science and tech foundation to work upon. However, all that knowledge can give us a false sense of how difficult it is to cross into unknown territory (e.g. when assembling a…
Since they aren't one of the big engineering infrastructure companies (Halliburton, Bechtel, Etc.) its unclear what they can do if they run into hiccups (like say nobody can fabricate the parts they need).
So do a $100M series A? Sure I could see that, a collection of billionaires wishing to bet on them making something that can work, but we should have trained people in the 90's to not buy stock in companies that have no hope of revenue in the forseeable future. (and say what you will of the recent Tech IPO's they have all had revenue)
[1] "Now, the company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. (which is not affiliated with Musk or Tesla) has inked a deal with landowners in central California to build the world's first Hyperloop test track"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an IPO this sounds similar to most biotech/pharma startups. These companies routinely IPO in the $50-100 million range when all they have is a patent, some promising data but no approved clinical trials and no business. Of course it's different because there's a clear post-IPO acquisition market for biotechs. Not quite as clear who would buy Hyperloop if it's proven to work...
It seems to be related to how startups are suddenly valuated at billions without much of a moat or intrinsic value. Just for having "users".
Sigh "The 5-mile test track is estimated to cost about $100 million, which Hyperloop Transportation Technologies hopes to pay for with its initial public offering (IPO) later this year, according to Navigant's blog." Run away, run far far away. They might as well do a kickstarter. Seriously, what sort of "business" is a 5 mile test track? Lets say you charged $25 for a "5 minute ride on the hyperloop!" and you got 8…
This reminds me of the Seattle Monorail, which continues to operate today. For a few dollars, you can ride swiftly and smoothly from one part of Downtown Seattle to another part of Downtown Seattle. Some day, scientists hope, the value of the monorail will be seen. That day, we expect to extend the rail line to other communities. Meanwhile, we just pulled a tunneling machine out of its boring hole, continue to expand…
not a great use of transportation dollars, think of how many EV buses they could buy, which on the whole buses tend to go where people want and do it more often than light rail which not only costs a fortune to build but maintain as well
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thermal is an issue that gets worse with distance. Did you look at the article that I posted above? If you are proposing expansion/slip joints at every pier, that runs directly counter to the proposal which states that expansion joints will only be needed near the stations. [1, pg. 27] If we go according to the proposal, the slip joint at the stations on the test track will only need to accommodate ~9 feet of movemen…
If their test has a station every X feet, then the track needs to follow that same rule. Granted, if they suggest you can build a test track station every X feet and the full scale model over 10x feet then that's an issue with their model. But, again it does not get worse due to the total number of stations just the ratio of stations to track. Anyway, you don't need active dampening to keep the structure intact, but…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thermal expansion is not really an issue that gets worse with distance, as the track can simply be made from independent segments connected with expansion joints. The issue is being able to cross from segment A to segment B not the number of such segments. In other words if it works on a test track it scales just fine, but getting that first connector to work is the hard part. Earthquakes require active dampening whi…
But don't we have a window of minutes to shut down the system in case of an earthquake? I thought we could get advance warning from P waves. (This doesn't work if you're in the epicenter, unfortunately.) If the car gets badly damaged, but the passenger stays alive, and the system can be fixed in a reasonable amount of time, then this is fine performance for a major earthquake event. High speed trains have similar per…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The purpose would be to learn more about the inevitable practical problems that come up between a system concept that pencils out to be more efficient and a real operating system. I think we stand on the shoulders of giants giving an incredible science and tech foundation to work upon. However, all that knowledge can give us a false sense of how difficult it is to cross into unknown territory (e.g. when assembling a…
I understand the purpose, but what I don't understand yet is why would you ask retail investors to fund it at this level of risk? Remember, these guys aren't associated with Musk in any way [1], they are just taking the ball and running with it. So huge risk, probably going to flame out, very small chance they become the folks with the 'expertise' in building Hyperloop type systems and thus the primary engineering co…
Edit: I agree with you that the risk is very, very high. But, it at least gives a non-zero potential for investment return - which on that level is better than, say, Kickstarter.
* Invent something totaly new * Test it on a small scale * Get a lot of negative comments on HN Com'on people. This might be the transportation of the future!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me of the Seattle Monorail, which continues to operate today. For a few dollars, you can ride swiftly and smoothly from one part of Downtown Seattle to another part of Downtown Seattle. Some day, scientists hope, the value of the monorail will be seen. That day, we expect to extend the rail line to other communities. Meanwhile, we just pulled a tunneling machine out of its boring hole, continue to expand…
oh, that 600 million dollar per mile tunnel? not a great use of transportation dollars, think of how many EV buses they could buy, which on the whole buses tend to go where people want and do it more often than light rail which not only costs a fortune to build but maintain as well
Everyone's been hearing about Bertha and the tunnel calamity, but almost nobody's heard about the trolley that connects 6 neighborhoods, was installed in about 6 months, and it's already done.
Sigh "The 5-mile test track is estimated to cost about $100 million, which Hyperloop Transportation Technologies hopes to pay for with its initial public offering (IPO) later this year, according to Navigant's blog." Run away, run far far away. They might as well do a kickstarter. Seriously, what sort of "business" is a 5 mile test track? Lets say you charged $25 for a "5 minute ride on the hyperloop!" and you got 8…
You should not. But a lot of (more positively thinking) people might like the risk/reward. After all, Elon is 4 for 4 in making people fabulously wealthy off very-hard-to-do projects (I know he's not officially involved but some of his people are like Sacks and Pishevar are).
If you have some thoughts on how that would work please share them. I'd like to learn.
I'm guessing (and I will know more when I read their S-1) that they build their test track, they prove out the concept, then win a contract to build a larger one from one of the states? So how far does that $100M get them? Does it get the 5-mile track built and operating? Looking at other complex projects, say the London Eye, which cost $100M in 1999. And it's just a Ferris wheel. I don't know of a 5 mile rail project that has cost less than about half a billion but I would certainly grant you that those tend to be bid on by cost+ contractors.
So I'm just trying to connect the dots on how they "go to market" as it were.