4 ms·

Elon Musk's Boring Co. Is Turning into a $900M Flop

27 points by petethomas 1y ago

PaulHoule 1y ago
https://archive.ph/4DZJw https://archive.ph/4DZJw
dotcoma 1y ago
Not a flop. A great PR success, that apparently ended up convincing California that a high-speed train was not needed — hey, Elon is going to build tunnels for Teslas!
- netsharc 1y ago
  Huh, good point. I've also read (hah do we have Musk legends now, does he also fart lightning out of his arse) that he hates public transport, because it means mingling with the lower classes. Wasn't the tunnel for that other vaporware idea, hyperloop, and this was the combo that killed the high-speed train? I was going to write, having a 12-figure net worth is a dangerous thing, because you can fund any dumb idea you have...
- _mlbt 1y ago
  California politicians and their incompetence were the ones that killed the high-speed train. It's a massive boondoggle that is way over budget, years behind schedule, and now estimated to cost $135 billion. https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article311508045.html https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article311508045.html
  - dzhiurgis 1y ago
    So Elon used 900m to save 135b and people are still bitching
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
oldpersonintx2 1y ago
[dead]
bell-cot 1y ago
The lost money and perpetual non-achievements really don't matter - because Boring Co. is just one of an inattentive zillionaire's expensive hobbies. Much like Bezos and his Blue Origin.
- _mlbt 1y ago
  I don't get the hate here. I'd rather see them do stuff like this than buy more mansions and super yachts. Even if Boring Co. and Blue Origin end up ultimately being commercial failures, they are at least pushing the envelope on engineering.
  - bell-cot 1y ago
    Yeah. Average-ish primates tend toward love/hate relationships with 900 lbs. gorillas. Bashing on Elon feels like boosting one's own social status at his expense. In a small band/clan/tribe/troop/whatever, that would actually be the case. But vastly more dangerous to do.
- Zigurd 1y ago
  I've made a number of video essays about both SpaceX and Blue Origin, mostly from the point of view of management style. To most sane people Bezos can look more competent. But he fired his experienced rocket guy and replaced him with the Alexa guy. Running a rocket company with KPI dashboards turns out to produce about the same non-results as running your rocket company out of the K hole. Space is hard. Though if I were to bet on one, it would be Blue Origin because they haven't done as many wild ass design decisions that have the potential to scuttle the whole project.
dzhiurgis 1y ago
Fundamentals haven't changed - smaller tunnels are far cheaper to build than massive ones and going 3D is still the way to solve traffic.
- rsynnott 1y ago
  > smaller tunnels are far cheaper to build than massive ones I'm not sure how true that is these days, tbh. As I understand it, today, a lot of the cost is care and feeding of the TBM, plus planning and rerouting of obstacles etc. Going for a _bigger_ TBM adds some cost, but not all that much cost. In particular, it is notable that, whereas traditional deep-bore metro lines were pretty much always built with two tunnels in the 3-4 meter (ie 28sqm to 50sqm) range (similar to Elon's car tunnels), most _new_ deep-bore metro lines are now being built with a single tunnel in the 9-12meter range (250sqm to 450sqm). Examples are Dublin, Barcelona, Paris. Obviously this requires removal of a lot more material, but the simplicity of a single big tunnel still seems to win out.
  - dzhiurgis 1y ago
    Did π get redefined or something? AFAIK formula is πr², so with higher diameter cost gets squared.

27 points by petethomas 1y ago

https://archive.ph/4DZJw https://archive.ph/4DZJw

Not a flop. A great PR success, that apparently ended up convincing California that a high-speed train was not needed — hey, Elon is going to build tunnels for Teslas!

netsharc 1y ago
Huh, good point. I've also read (hah do we have Musk legends now, does he also fart lightning out of his arse) that he hates public transport, because it means mingling with the lower classes. Wasn't the tunnel for that other vaporware idea, hyperloop, and this was the combo that killed the high-speed train? I was going to write, having a 12-figure net worth is a dangerous thing, because you can fund any dumb idea you have...
_mlbt 1y ago
California politicians and their incompetence were the ones that killed the high-speed train. It's a massive boondoggle that is way over budget, years behind schedule, and now estimated to cost $135 billion. https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article311508045.html https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article311508045.html
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  So Elon used 900m to save 135b and people are still bitching
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]

oldpersonintx2 1y ago

[dead]

bell-cot 1y ago

The lost money and perpetual non-achievements really don't matter - because Boring Co. is just one of an inattentive zillionaire's expensive hobbies. Much like Bezos and his Blue Origin.

_mlbt 1y ago
I don't get the hate here. I'd rather see them do stuff like this than buy more mansions and super yachts. Even if Boring Co. and Blue Origin end up ultimately being commercial failures, they are at least pushing the envelope on engineering.
- bell-cot 1y ago
  Yeah. Average-ish primates tend toward love/hate relationships with 900 lbs. gorillas. Bashing on Elon feels like boosting one's own social status at his expense. In a small band/clan/tribe/troop/whatever, that would actually be the case. But vastly more dangerous to do.
Zigurd 1y ago
I've made a number of video essays about both SpaceX and Blue Origin, mostly from the point of view of management style. To most sane people Bezos can look more competent. But he fired his experienced rocket guy and replaced him with the Alexa guy. Running a rocket company with KPI dashboards turns out to produce about the same non-results as running your rocket company out of the K hole. Space is hard. Though if I were to bet on one, it would be Blue Origin because they haven't done as many wild ass design decisions that have the potential to scuttle the whole project.

dzhiurgis 1y ago

Fundamentals haven't changed - smaller tunnels are far cheaper to build than massive ones and going 3D is still the way to solve traffic.

rsynnott 1y ago
> smaller tunnels are far cheaper to build than massive ones I'm not sure how true that is these days, tbh. As I understand it, today, a lot of the cost is care and feeding of the TBM, plus planning and rerouting of obstacles etc. Going for a _bigger_ TBM adds some cost, but not all that much cost. In particular, it is notable that, whereas traditional deep-bore metro lines were pretty much always built with two tunnels in the 3-4 meter (ie 28sqm to 50sqm) range (similar to Elon's car tunnels), most _new_ deep-bore metro lines are now being built with a single tunnel in the 9-12meter range (250sqm to 450sqm). Examples are Dublin, Barcelona, Paris. Obviously this requires removal of a lot more material, but the simplicity of a single big tunnel still seems to win out.
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  Did π get redefined or something? AFAIK formula is πr², so with higher diameter cost gets squared.