Elon Musk was speaking in public again, this time at Leo Baeck Temple in the elegant Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. Most of the conversation, with Steve Davis of the Boring Company, seemed to be aimed at reassuring neighbors about the experimental tunnel . Prior to the meeting, LA Metro confirmed that they were working with Boring Company on the test.
Musk has a vision of mass transit that has "pods" that carry up to 16 passengers at $ 1 per person. He also said this at the meeting, but it is also information that appears in the Frequently Asked Questions, Tweets and Instagram posts of the Boring Company. "Traffic that destroys the soul" is the way Musk plans to mark LA's transportation system, since it was repeated during the presentation both loudly and on a slide. The phrase also appears within the first 10 words of the frequently asked questions. Previously, Musk has said that taking a pod will cost less than a bus ticket; tonight the cost was linked to $ 1. He again offered free rides for anyone who wanted to try his tunnel.
For those of us who are not smart enough to live near the Musk test tunnel, there was also news about bricks, locomotives with Tesla Model 3 engines, and delivery of flamethrowers.
About the bricks
I've been covering this guy for years and I think he really could be more excited about his bricks than Mars. Anyway, the treatment is that part of what makes the bored is very slow is that the dirt displaced by the tunnel must be eliminated. The musk bricks are prepared by compressing that dirt at high pressures, plus a little concrete. "And then you have bricks that are rated for California seismic loads," Musk said.
He's excited to sell the bricks, for "like 10 cents a brick or something," he told the crowd. "And they are really good bricks." You can, like, build houses with them and things. "He prefers them to concrete blocks, which is" rough and grainy; "The musk bricks are" incredibly smooth. "And then, Musk throws himself to a brick wall, which he sees as incomparable:" These are bricks that are much better than any brick I've seen on a construction site. " They can be, for affordable housing, "really convincing."
They are also strong, with a PSI of 5,000, which really means nothing to me personally, but it's how the compression strength of the bricks is measured. Musk said that this was stronger than concrete blocks, is it really, I do not know, I'm a science journalist, not a concrete block expert, ask Masonry magazine, Musk was also excited about selling the bricks. in life-size Lego kits, starting with a pyramid and the temple of Horus.
The liveliest musk it seems is when it talks about money, the audience is told that between 15 and 20 percent of the cost of the tunnel is esenc ially remove the displaced dirt, place it in trucks and send it … somewhere. Even if bricks are given away, simply not having to pay for mud processing makes it cheaper. I bet Musk collects pennies when he sees them on the ground.
Removal of dirt brings us to trains, which are – surprise! – Another measure of cost savings. Honestly I want him to do my taxes. "We made an electric locomotive," says Musk. "A battery-powered locomotive, to be precise."
Uses batteries and motors of the Tesla Model 3. (There is a long and complicated saga about the production of the Model 3, partly on the batteries). a quarter of a million pounds of land per load, said Musk. But there is only one; the other places use diesel engines, which are bad for the reasons of the type of smoke. "I think we're the first to use a battery-powered locomotive of that size," he said.
The Boring Company will deliver its flamethrowers from two weeks, Musk said. There have been "delivery challenges," he said, no one likes to send things with propane, it turns out. The solution is "personalized delivery to your home or business, with a van from Boring Company". There was no discussion about cost savings.