Energy and emissions analysis of the hyperloop transportation system

The Hyperloop is a proposed novel mode of high-speed transportation that uses magnetically levitated pods, propelled by a linear synchronous motor in a partially evacuated environment to transport passengers. It is being commercialized on multiple routes across the world with different operating speeds: Mumbai-Pune (India-360 km/h), Dubai-Abu Dhabi (UAE-750 km/h), Chicago–Pittsburgh (USA-1484 km/h). The work investigates the energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and embodied energy of the technology using a transparent framework, first principal energy balances, and public domain information. The article provides a transparent framework to analyze the energy consumption per passenger-km compared with current transport modes. The study has been carried out considering the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop corridor as the base case for projected ridership and distances. The analysis shows that with an operating energy of 707 kJ/passenger-km (for the Mumbai–Pune route with a ridership of 20,500 per direction), the Hyperloop is three times energy-expensive as the E5 Bullet train and Transrapid Maglev, although 40% more energy efficient than an airplane. The Hyperloop system's embodied energy calculated per passenger-km is 61% greater than an airplane. The carbon emissions of the Hyperloop are critically dependent on the carbon intensity of the electricity generation, and net savings over aircraft and other modes can only be achieved if the power grid has a high penetration of clean energy sources.