Hyperloop One test: World’s first full-size hyperloop test in Las Vegas - TomoNews

LAS VEGAS — Hyperloop One announced last week that it plans to execute a full test within the next three months at Apex Industrial Park in Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The test run will cover 500 linear meters, said Nick Earle, the company’s senior vice president of global field operations.

“It will levitate, catch the right speed and slow down,” Earle said. “Then what we’ll do, is over the next few months extend that into a few kilometers,” he said.

In May 2016, the company successfully tested its levitating electromagnetic motor on an open air sled, reaching speeds of 116 mph, according to Wired.

Earle also told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the company is planning to have a full Hyperloop system ready to transport freight by 2020.

The hyperloop is based on the idea by Elon Musk of levitating pods that would travel in near-vacuum tubes at speeds of over 700 mph, powered by an electric propulsion system, according to Wired.

According to Musk’s calculations, a hyperloop trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles would take only 36 minutes, Wired reported.