3 ms·

Ars takes a first tour of the length of the Boring Company's test tunnel

4 points by Reedx 8y ago

jcranmer 8y ago
Can we get a journalist to actually call out Musk on his "up to $1 billion a mile" claim for tunnels? That price point is extremely misleading: it's taking the cost of a subway extension and dividing it by its length. This means that it's first twice as high as you'd expect (a subway consists of two pair of tunnels, after all). But it also includes lots of non-tunneling costs: you have to take into account the costs of station platforms, mezzanines, and access points, the tunneling accoutrements (such as rails, power, emergency lighting, drainage systems, and ventilation), capital costs for new subway cars for the expansion, and new traction power substations to power stuff along the line. The actual costs for subway tunnels is about $50-80 million per mile, and even horribly cost-inflated projects such as NYC's Second Avenue Subway (which I presume is the project cited as having a $1 billion/mile cost) comes out to $200-somethingish million per mile of tunnel. And much of that cost is probably union featherbedding.
Reedx 8y ago
Why did they drop the electric skate concept in favor of requiring cars to have tracking wheels? That's not nearly as elegant of a solution, so there must be a good reason for the change. With the skate they were even going to allow non-EVs to use the tunnels. From their FAQ [1] "Every mile the skate transports a gas-burning vehicle becomes a zero-emission mile." 1. https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/#block-yui_3_17_2_3_1512057786758_64785 https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/#block-yui_3_17_2_3_151205...
- jcranmer 8y ago
  The first thing that comes to mind is that the skate wasn't ready in time for the press demo. But... that doesn't explain why dropping it altogether. Looking at the sizes in those pictures, it's possible that they couldn't fit a skate in. The skate would have to have electric motors squeezed in somewhere, and it looks like that 12' inner diameter has to squeeze in the car, the skate, the ventilation system, and the drainage system--and the gutter beneath already looks rather small for drainage. It also doesn't look like there's much room for a pedestrian emergency exit path; you'd have to walk on the wheel guideway path as is.

4 points by Reedx 8y ago

Can we get a journalist to actually call out Musk on his "up to $1 billion a mile" claim for tunnels? That price point is extremely misleading: it's taking the cost of a subway extension and dividing it by its length. This means that it's first twice as high as you'd expect (a subway consists of two pair of tunnels, after all). But it also includes lots of non-tunneling costs: you have to take into account the costs of station platforms, mezzanines, and access points, the tunneling accoutrements (such as rails, power, emergency lighting, drainage systems, and ventilation), capital costs for new subway cars for the expansion, and new traction power substations to power stuff along the line. The actual costs for subway tunnels is about $50-80 million per mile, and even horribly cost-inflated projects such as NYC's Second Avenue Subway (which I presume is the project cited as having a $1 billion/mile cost) comes out to $200-somethingish million per mile of tunnel. And much of that cost is probably union featherbedding.

Reedx 8y ago

Why did they drop the electric skate concept in favor of requiring cars to have tracking wheels? That's not nearly as elegant of a solution, so there must be a good reason for the change. With the skate they were even going to allow non-EVs to use the tunnels. From their FAQ [1] "Every mile the skate transports a gas-burning vehicle becomes a zero-emission mile." 1. https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/#block-yui_3_17_2_3_1512057786758_64785 https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/#block-yui_3_17_2_3_151205...

jcranmer 8y ago
The first thing that comes to mind is that the skate wasn't ready in time for the press demo. But... that doesn't explain why dropping it altogether. Looking at the sizes in those pictures, it's possible that they couldn't fit a skate in. The skate would have to have electric motors squeezed in somewhere, and it looks like that 12' inner diameter has to squeeze in the car, the skate, the ventilation system, and the drainage system--and the gutter beneath already looks rather small for drainage. It also doesn't look like there's much room for a pedestrian emergency exit path; you'd have to walk on the wheel guideway path as is.