3 reasons Elon Musk's Hyperloop might not be the best idea

What the skeptics have to say about the first draft of the transit system of the future

Hyperloop
(Image credit: AP Photo/Tesla Motors)

This week, Tesla Motors head Elon Musk unveiled his designs for the Hyperloop — a high-speed train that would whisk passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 30 minutes at the incredible speed of almost 800 miles an hour.

Musk's plans for a "fifth mode" of transportation are undeniably wicked cool. The project is attractive in many ways: Building the Hyperloop would create jobs; the tube would be powered by solar panels, which would make it soft on the environment; and Musk's estimates peg the entire cost of the Hyperloop at less than a tenth of California's ongoing high-speed rail project, allowing ticket prices to theoretically be as cheap as $20 each way. But most awesomely: Passengers would zoom through a steel tube in tiny pods resting on a cushion of air.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Carmel Lobello is the business editor at TheWeek.com. Previously, she was an editor at DeathandTaxesMag.com.