HYPERLOOP STUDY A WATERSHED FOR TRANSIT TECH
▶ Abu Dhabi’s transport body and HTT set for talks over results of research
Our model is supercheap, super-efficient and also super-safe
BIBOP GRESTA Chairman and co-founder of HTT
Results of the first extensive study into a hyperloop service in the emirate of Abu Dhabi are due in weeks and could represent a watershed moment for the future of the revolutionary transport technology in the UAE.
If the study is approved and government permits granted, the company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is confident of turning science fiction into reality within four years, with Al Ain to Abu Dhabi the most likely first transit line.
Developing science in the world of electromagnetic transport has fast evolved into an arms race as rival companies try to become the first to launch a safe and reliable mode of passenger transport.
“Our model is super-cheap, super-efficient and also supersafe,” said Bibop Gresta, the chairman and co-founder of HTT, who started life as a programmer and became head of his first company at 15.
“I don’t see the Hyperloop concept as a race or a war as many have described it. We have answered the call to actually build this technology and develop a project that will recoup any investment.
“Most of these other projects are very expensive and not capable of making any money.”
Small capsules that can deliver more people to more points is the model, with up to seven capsules each holding 30 to 50 people, depending on the design profile, in just one near-vacuum tube.
It will be able to deliver 3,400 people an hour, that is 128,000 a day, or 24 million people a year in one tube.
“Instead of encouraging people to invest their money, we have offered a new approach, exchanging expertise and ideas for shares,” Mr Gresta said.
“We had many scientists register an interest to get involved and contribute, people from Nasa, MIT, Stanford and Space X, the best minds on the planet.”
Capsules speeding at 1,200 kilometres per hour will take passengers from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain in 8 to 12 minutes. Further lines could be developed at a later stage between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and even Riyadh.
More than 200 scientists have been working for HTT to improve safety and efficiency in exchange for stock options in the company.
HTT has an agreement with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which gives the company an exclusive licence to use the laboratory’s passive magnetic levitation technology.
Experts from HTT have been working with more than 70 stakeholders in the UAE over the past year to assess the viability of opening a route here.
“The UAE and Abu Dhabi is the first place to complete a full-scale feasibility study into the technology,” said Mr Gresta. “We were sure of the technology but the challenge has been about sustainability and the financial models associated with the project.
“These results will be published in two weeks. Then we can discuss phase two, to bring this to the region very soon, maybe within four years once permits have been granted.”
The study agreement details a multiphase roll-out that includes route analysis, cost estimates and a development schedule.
Once these analyses are successfully completed, the Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport and HTT will discuss further steps.
A full-scale commercial prototype with functioning capsules developed in Spain will be tested in Toulouse in May.
Project developers claim HTT offers more options than a motorway because it is cost effective and can use a combination with renewable energy, kinetic energy and geothermal to provide 30 per cent more energy than it consumes.
“Potentially it is a system that would quickly recoup any initial investment and then generate money,” Mr Gresta said.