Hyperloop. That sounds big, like a toy, a bit like Elon Musk - not Hamburg.
The idea of getting people in a fast vacuum tube from A to B at dizzying speed actually goes back to the tech nerd and Tesla boss. In 2013, he pulled her out of his hat and explained on 58 pages, how the whole thing should work. However, he quickly said goodbye to her afterwards. The concept sounded very interesting: environmentally friendly from place to place, without congestion - and that with over 1220 km / h.
Much, however, Musk left unanswered: questions about fire safety, or how passengers should safely get out of their cells and out of them. It seemed Musk's problems were too complicated.
Others, however, kept on working - one of them is Dirk Ahlborn. Ahlborn is the Managing Director of Loslo Angeles-based US research and development company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), with offices in several countries, including the Emirates and Brazil.
The engineer tells this morning why his idea is suddenly not so far away from Hamburg and how he has developed it in the last five years.
He came to Hamburg with Hyperloop COO Andres De Léon to announce the cooperation of both companies together with port boss Angela Titzrath. It should form the beginning to revolutionize the freight transport at the port of Hamburg. It's a test for something bigger. "We want to develop cargo technology together," says Ahlborn.
Titzrath speaks of an idea that will soon bring the port of Hamburg as the largest rail and freight station in Europe "a central location advantage".
But what should this idea look like?
Test track at a Hamburg container terminal
By 2021, at a terminal in the Port of Hamburg, probably the container terminal Altenwerder, not only a self-propelled 25-tonne capsule to Musk idea, but also a transfer station and a 100 -meter-long tube will be used, which serves as a test track. It should connect Kai-edge and transfer station with each other. Cost: about seven million euros.
"The whole thing has a lot to do with imagination, if you imagine that you can bring goods at speed of sound from one place to another," says Ahlborn. In recent years, he has been working with TÜV Süd on implementing a "rules and regulations" for the integration of his technology in Germany; a Munich insurer has already promised him a policy for his project. "In Germany, everything is a bit slower," smiles Ahlborn, who was born in 1976 here. In China and the Emirates, people are to be transported by Hyperloop as early as next year. A test site is located in Toulouse, France.
The Hyperloop technology - originally developed for passenger traffic - is thus almost one on one transferable to cargo, so Ahlborn. The system works without active power supply and lets capsule and container by means of permanent magnets float on rails after a few meters at high speed through the tube. On the outside of the tube additional sources for solar and wind energy will be installed. Alone, promises Ahlborn, could supply the Hyperloop in the normal case already with the necessary energy.
And the costs? 20 million euros per kilometer
The inside of the tube, on the other hand, is almost completely deprived of air, creating a near-vacuum. Comparable with the environment at 30 kilometers altitude. "There is hardly any air resistance here and therefore we can move heavy goods with comparably low energy input," says Ahlborn. The tons of containers should be sent to the tube at a distance of 40 seconds. Also, the problem of braking such an enormous mass, you have solved, it says something cryptic in the company. Physically, the process is difficult for the layman to explain.
"The big challenge is not in the technology, it lies in cleverly embed them in the environment of the port and apply," says Ahlborn. In the future, more than 4100 containers per day should be able to be transported via the terminal. "This is a significant increase in efficiency for us," adds Hafen boss Titzrath.
"Our long-term goal is to connect the hinterland even better to the port," says Titzrath. In the considerations, various Hyperloop routes play a role. The crux of implementing projects on such a scale is currently also in the price.
"A serious benchmark is currently about 20 million euros, per kilometer," calculates Ahlborn. How high the costs really are, however, depends primarily on the environment in which it is built.
"I would like a fair chance for the technology," says Titzrath. This is not always easy in Germany, adds Ahlborn. Hamburg is a location that promotes innovation, both find.