What on earth is Hyperloop?

Though perhaps a little sleepy today, the German city of Pforzheim, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, was once a booming commercial centre. By the early-19th century, it had come to be known as Goldstadt, the City of Gold, such was the renown of its craftsmen. Jewellery and fine watchmaking were the local specialisms; delicate, intricate trades, somehow befitting of the idyllic setting on the northern lip of the Black Forest.

It was also the birthplace of Bertha Benz who, in the summer of 1888, was engaged in a minor quarrel with her husband, Karl. The two were divided over his new invention, the Benz Patent Motorcar. He harboured profound misgivings about its reliability, durability and general suitability for long distance travel; she, on the other hand, had no such doubts. And so, one August morning, Bertha rose early and headed to the workshop. With a point to prove and the couple’s two children in tow, she set the motorcar onto the main road out of her adopted hometown of Mannheim. Her destination was her mother’s house in Pforzheim, roughly 100km to the south. She arrived 12 hours later, exhausted but vindicated. As part of the festivities around International Women’s Day last year, Mercedes-Benz released a short film celebrating the tale. Its title: The Journey That Changed Everything.  

Earlier this month, Bertha’s ghost was stirred in the Nevada Desert, as Sara Luchian and Josh Giegel prepared for a trip of their own. The numbers were quite different: the total distance to be covered was 500 metres, the expected top speed around 170kph. But the success of the pair’s shorter, faster venture might just mark the opening of a similarly significant chapter in human mobility. This was the first passenger trial of Virgin Hyperloop; it could well come to be known to history as the journey that changed everything again.

“We haven’t done something like this in over a century,” says Ryan Kelly, Virgin Hyperloop’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “We seem to have forgotten what kind of impact new forms of mass transit can have on society. Given how important infrastructure and mobility will be to the future of our world, now is the perfect time for a breakthrough.”   

Hyperloop certainly appears to be that. The headline facts test credulity. The makers promise scarcely imaginable journey times: Los Angeles to San Francisco – 90 minutes by plane, or 6 hours on the road – will take 48 minutes. Maximum speeds will exceed 1000kph. Target capacity for one route (Mumbai-Pune) is 16,000 people per hour. This will all be achieved by propelling individual pods of up to 28 people through sealed, depressurised tubes using magnetic levitation. Fantastic as it seems, this is no flight of fancy. The technology, (the “easy part”, according to Kelly) has already been extensively tested. This month’s passenger run was just the latest in a series of hundreds of trials conducted at the desert facility known as DevLoop.

The financials also make for encouraging reading. An initial vision pitch in 2014 attracted significant venture capital attention; by 2017, with the proprietary technology in place, Virgin Group were on board as strategic partners. Their involvement became eponymous thanks to a swift rebrand; securing name recognition in the field of international mass transit proved to be a watershed moment. Roughly a year later, DP World – which moves 10% of global trade through its network of ports and economic zones – became the project’s majority backer.

For Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World’s Group Chairman and CEO, the investment opportunity was clear: “The world is changing quickly. Hyperloop will allow us to connect markets and economies, keep trade flowing, and help build the next phase of inclusive economic growth.” Sultan bin Sulayem was elected Chair of Virgin Hyperloop in November of last year. 

Another key milestone was reached in July 2020, when US Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao started work on a framework for Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology. In doing so, she has opened the door to public sector investment and all-important safety certification.

Demonstrating safety is a prevailing concern. Last month saw the announcement that the Virgin Hyperloop Certification Centre will open in West Virginia, designed for this very purpose. “Developing the tech is one thing, but it’s quite another to regulate,” explains Kelly. “Our vision was to create a space that standards and accreditation bodies from around the world can visit, to review the technology up close. This will help us get to the point where we can get passenger and cargo certification; from there, we can actually start building.”

It’s a complex undertaking. With projects already slated for the US, India and mainland Europe, the team is dealing with a contrasting array of regulatory regimes. But, as with everything else hyperloop, they’re looking to move quickly. “We’re hoping to get there by the end of 2025,” says Kelly. “Thereafter, the goal is to launch our first commercial journey in 2030.”

So, it’s all systems go. More importantly, it’s all systems green. Last year, the company became the first mass transit specialists to join the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy Network. Their commitment to reusing decommissioned parts and materials is part of a larger ambition to create what Kelly calls “a whole new ecosystem for supply chains.”

“Most of the governments that are looking at hyperloop are doing so as part of a wider commitment to reducing their carbon footprint. That’s part and parcel of our value proposition.” That short sprint through the desert tube earlier this month was powered entirely by electricity. The team believes 45 million journeys each year will be solar powered in the Middle East. In those markets where the sun doesn’t shine with quite the same reliable intensity as the Arabian desert, other energy sources are under investigation. The company is agnostic about exactly how its networks should be powered, so long as the power is renewable and socially responsible.