Image: Bloomberg
Elon Musk’s The Boring Company wants to build a tunnel-based underground transportation system to “solve traffic” but also has more goals beyond the latter.
With the company’s Las Vegas loop for vehicles now operational, the Boring Company is looking for its next project.
According to a copy of the document pitch seen by Bloomberg, The Boring Co. has its sights set on more than just transporting pedestrians and passenger vehicles, with the tunneling experts now pitching freight transportation tunnels to potential clients.
The Boring Co. is pitching double-wide tunnels that are 21′ in diameter (as opposed to its passenger tunnels that are 12′ in diameter) and are equipped with battery-powered freight carriers.
The proposal details how up to two standard 40′ shipping containers that are 8′ tall can fit comfortably in one of these double-wide tunnels with 1′ of space between them. The containers will be carried through the tunnel on an automated freight carrier, negating the effects of heavy-duty freight carriers on road traffic.
From an engineering point of view, The Boring Company’s pitch works, said Anne Goodchild, founding director of the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center at the University of Washington. She cited how companies such as Boeing Co. also have large tunnels for transport.
However, the obstacles then are cost, and finding locations that would actually benefit from underground freight transportation as opposed to good ol’ road transport.
By standardizing the size of the tunnels to 21′ in diameter, The Boring Co. has done a lot in the way of minimizing cost. All that remains now is finding a suitable client.
Right, so Elon Musk’s latest “revolutionary” idea is to send freight through tunnels on proprietary technology. In other words, shipping containers are loaded onto Tesla-designed sleds in tunnels; no other type of sled will be compatible (you know, because Tesla). Each sled apparently has its own battery (you know, because Tesla is a glorified battery company, so they want to put their batteries in everything (another reason why it’s proprietary)).
This is such an idiotic idea. By putting batteries on every sled, you’re adding to the weight of the sled, which reduces the amount of freight you can haul. You also have to remove the sleds from service occasionally to charge their batteries.
A better idea would be to, I don’t know, feed the sleds electricity externally by having two rails in the tunnels, one to pick up current, and another to complete the circuit. This means lighter vehicles, more freight, less downtime, and you don’t have to worry about the charge of your battery or range.
It’s sort of like the London underground, but without guide rails (the word “rail” seems to be a naughty word in Elon Musk’s universe). In fact, the cut and cover lines of the London underground (now Circle, District, Metropolitan, and Hammersmith & City lines) used to carry freight. The North London line (not part of the underground, but is still a deep level tunnel) could, in theory, carry freight (since it meets the National Rail loading gage). The London Post Office Railway carried freight to some degree (letters and parcels) until it was closed in 2003, despite having a smaller track guage. Crossrail should be able to carry freight. The Channel Tunnel carries freight.
What Elon Musk is suggesting is an idiotic solution to a problem that was already solved over a century ago. And his modifications to the existing solution don’t add anything useful, they just take useful things away in the hope of making it proprietary for his companies.
How anyone can look at the leaked The Boring Company tunnel renderings and come to the conclusion that it’s even close to a good idea is beyond me. However, the cult of Musk is real, and it’s brainwashed many people who now overlook the many flaws and forget about the practical alternatives that already exist and have existed for over a century.