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This proposal was moved to: Transportation 2016

Pitch

High-speed podcars are completely powered by renewable energy. They replace a large percentage of flights as well as vehicular traffic.


Description

Summary

Podcars and PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) has been proposed in the past and has even been presented by the Climate CoLab to the UN and US congress as a climate-change mitigation proposal back in 2011.  This idea has been percolating in different forms for many decades.

The difference is that we start high-speed routes and expand into cities instead of starting with city routes, though either way is OK.  Another key difference is capacity which matches BRT or LRT.  A third is roundabouts and dual-direction guideway instead of the more traditional single-direction guideway and its need to use two parallel corridors where typically only one is defined in city plans.

This proposal uses a two level guideway with two directions of travel on a single support structure.  This means a large capacity is possible per ROW (right of way).  This large capacity means that the cost of the guideway structure is spread over a large number of trips.  The podcars travel in trains of 12 cars or so such that wait for departure is minimal and organizing of trains is done without rider intervention.  A high ridership is expected because of the characteristics of podcars.

This proposal can carry two people in a row on the top guideway which maximizes energy efficiency. It can carry four people plus cargo in the bottom pods and is ADA compliant. The bottom pods can also carry ULD (unit load devices) used by airlines to move cargo. By connecting airports with this system, cargo can be moved directly to and from aircraft and efficiency can be improved by consolidating loads that might otherwise be flown to multiple destinations.

So there is a potential to electrify not only person flights and car travel but also a portion of truck traffic. This reduction in vehicular traffic could reduce traffic congestion and energy wasted by idling cars stuck in traffic.

More information can be found at http://LoftyTaxi.com


What actions do you propose?

Getting a podcar system built is a monumental task that requires not only expertise from many disciplines, but a clear path from initial investment to payoff for investors.

MIT alumni likely have the expertise to validate that the initial designs can technically be built and offer ways around sticky points that may be identified.

Assuming a validated design, investments can be found to build an initial prototype which can be evaluated and improved. Locations for implementation and business plans based on estimated ridership can be written and the key people needed to bring this project to fruition can be located and turned on to the possibilities this new mode would entail.

High-speed podcars are a definite, visible, tangible embodiment of climate-mitigation, an improvement in travel and a lowered dependency on foreign oil. Working on this project might mean seeing these systems implemented world-wide along major transportation corridors and knowing you had a part in making them happen.

 

Further Ideas

Some ideas to mitigate build impact are hemp based composite plastics and  "green" concrete.

Solar and wind power connected to the grid equivalent in kWh used.

Batteries as backup power for the podcars and for load leveling.

Eventual integration with driverless taxi for areas without traffic congestion.

 

GHG impact example

Assuming 600 kW (800 HP) for the large train and 400 kW (535 HP) for the small train each of 12 pods, traveling at 320 km/h (~200 mph).

So 1000 kW/320 km/h/24 = 130 Wh / km which is ballpark energy use for EV traveling at highway speed.

8,000 vph per direction

11 hours of full operational equivalence per day (including freight movement)

600 km route from San Francisco to Los Angeles

vehicles per km = 8,000 vph/320 km/h

Maximum vehicle km: 8,000 * 11 * 600 * 2 * 365 = 38,544,000,000 km per year

flight: 0.277 kg CO2 per passenger mile

car: 0.364 kg CO2 of gas consumed per mile

https://www.carbonfund.org/how-we-calculate

Using .364 since passenger miles on flight must be divided by vehicle occupancy (1.3 and ignoring extra km of indirect route)

38,544,000,000/1.6*0.364 kg CO2e per year for 600 km route (like San Francisco to LA)

or 8.77 MtCO2/year for the 600 km route.  ( please verify )

Given 12,000 miles traveled per car per year, it is like taking about 2 million cars off the road.