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Hyperloop Pod Competition


((PKG)) HYPERLOOP
((Banner: Moving into the Future))
((Reporter/Camera:
Genia Dulot))
((Adapted by:
Philip Alexiou))
((Map:
Los Angeles, California))
((Banner:
467 kilometers per hour, or 290 miles per hour is a new pod speed record inside a vacuum tunnel.))
((Banner:
600 teams from around the world meet for a Hyperloop Pod competition, sponsored by SpaceX.))
((NATS))

((Florian Janke, Warr Hyperloop))
So, what we thought of is, how can we improve power to rate ratio because that’s all what it’s about. It’s more of an electric drag race, what we’re doing here. So, ok, what do you need to go fast? Ok, you need high acceleration or a lot of horsepower and less weight. So, that was the first design consideration and we tried different designs. So, one big motor, two big motors, or two big motors on the same shaft. That was also a pretty cool idea. But, in the end, we saw these very small motors and these have a very good power to weight ratio, so we went with that. The simulation just showed that that would be the best option to go.
((NATS))
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…..
((Antoine Coppens, EPFloop))
What we wanted to achieve is a very strong and a safe reliable chassis. Because when you accelerate inside the vacuum tube so fast, there’s a lot of forces that act on the pod. And in order to keep everything straight, everything contained on the pod, you have to make sure that it is very, very strong. A lot stronger often than what you would see in normal cars because the acceleration and deceleration is not as high. Batteries are inside these two pressure vessels on the side of the pod. The reason that we put them inside of the pressure vessel is because they are not rated for vacuum. So, we want to keep them at one bar. You want to keep them at the atmospheric pressure. Basically, that gives you the reliability that the cells, when they are exposed to vacuum, they can expand and that could be a risk for explosion or battery fire. So, when you keep them inside the pressure vessel, you are sure that will not happen.
((Jelle Van Der Zon, DELFT Hyperloop))
Especially in the Netherlands, aviation, there’s a lot of, from the environment, people are not liking it so much. There’s a lot of noise pollution, a lot of environmental pollution. People actually want to get rid of aviation. So, that’s why Hyperloop actually already comes in. So, with a station distance of 500 kilometers, which means we can connect like Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris or Amsterdam-Berlin. In a plane it would take like 40 minutes to an hour, depends a little, but you need to be at the airport like two hours in advance. And for Hyperloop, we want to organize it in such a fashion that you can arrive at a Hyperloop station, get on board and just be in Paris in 30 minutes.
((Elon Musk, CEO, SpaceX))
This is like really the first opportunity to create something that’s fundamentally a new mode of transport and its two parts to it. It’s creating a pod, engineering associated with a pod and a vacuum tube and then creating the tunnels. And this is what this competition is about as well. It’s encouraging people to think about new modes of transport, things that could radically transform cities in the way people get around, and really testing that’s going to be around for improvement. There are certain things in the world that implores people to be their best about the future. And like, so pessimistic and I think, what were you doing here, is one of those things that makes people excited about the future.

((NATS))

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